research-article

Design Opportunities to Enhance Children's Engagement with Nature in Bhutan: A Working Field Theory

Authors:

Margot Brereton,

Bernd PlodererAuthors Info & Claims

OzCHI '21: Proceedings of the 33rd Australian Conference on Human-Computer Interaction

Pages 51 - 61

https://doi.org/10.1145/3520495.3520516

Published: 15 September 2022 Publication History

Abstract

Bhutan is known to the world for its rich natural biodiversity. However, with urbanization, children living in urban areas are increasingly spending their time indoors. There is potential to understand how children engage with nature and explore the design of suitable technologies to motivate children to be outdoors. We conducted an exploratory study with 11 parents and 12 children (7-8 years old) living in urban Bhutan to understand how children with their family engage with nature. We found that children experience nature physically with adults’ presence and design elements such as fantasy, sensory, curiosity, and game play with friends and siblings can enhance nature engagement. Concurrently, we found that technologies can be disruptive when children are outdoors with their friends. The contribution of this paper is a deeper understanding of how children experience nature, which is visualized through a working field theory, and a discussion of design opportunities to enhance nature interactions.

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Cited By

Vella KDobson MRodgers SOm CBircanin FDema TPillai JMurcia KBrereton M(2024)Wired, wild, wonderfulInternational Journal of Child-Computer Interaction10.1016/j.ijcci.2023.10061938:COnline publication date: 27-Feb-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.ijcci.2023.100619
Om CBrereton MVella KPloderer BDema TDobson MMurcia K(2023)Rethinking the Development of Computational Thinking Skills in Young Children through Nature PlayProceedings of the 35th Australian Computer-Human Interaction Conference10.1145/3638380.3638447(536-549)Online publication date: 2-Dec-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3638380.3638447

Index Terms

Design Opportunities to Enhance Children's Engagement with Nature in Bhutan: A Working Field Theory
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)
    1. Empirical studies in HCI

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OzCHI '21: Proceedings of the 33rd Australian Conference on Human-Computer Interaction

November 2021

361 pages

ISBN:9781450395984

DOI:10.1145/3520495

Copyright © 2021 ACM.

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Published: 15 September 2022

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OzCHI '21

OzCHI '21: 33rd Australian Conference on Human-Computer Interaction

November 30 - December 2, 2021

VIC, Melbourne, Australia

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Cited By

Vella KDobson MRodgers SOm CBircanin FDema TPillai JMurcia KBrereton M(2024)Wired, wild, wonderfulInternational Journal of Child-Computer Interaction10.1016/j.ijcci.2023.10061938:COnline publication date: 27-Feb-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.ijcci.2023.100619
Om CBrereton MVella KPloderer BDema TDobson MMurcia K(2023)Rethinking the Development of Computational Thinking Skills in Young Children through Nature PlayProceedings of the 35th Australian Computer-Human Interaction Conference10.1145/3638380.3638447(536-549)Online publication date: 2-Dec-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3638380.3638447

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