Designing and evaluating a tangible tabletop game for playful exploration of the energy grid

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master_Sommerschuh_Sarah_2025.pdf (79.31 MB)

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School of Science | Master's thesis
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Date

2025-07-28

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Major/Subject

Human-Computer Interaction and Design

Mcode

Degree programme

Master's Programme in ICT Innovation

Language

en

Pages

189

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Abstract

This thesis presents the design and evaluation of a tangible tabletop game that encourages museum visitors to playfully explore the energy grid. With the tabletop introducing a large number of tokens, the focus is on providing an intuitive, engaging and educational experience. Following a Design Thinking approach, empirical data was gathered through stakeholder interviews, Co-Design sessions, and a usability study using a Wizard of Oz prototype with 20 tokens. This study involved five participants and combined observation, interviews, questionnaires (SUS and UES-SF), and pre/post-test quizzes to assess usability, engagement, and learning. The design achieved a moderate usability score (SUS score of 67) with higher engagement (UES-SF mean score of 4.0/5), though focused attention and perceived usability scored lower. Learning effects were visible in users with less prior knowledge, while overall, interest in the topic remained mainly unchanged. Contrary to prior findings, participants of the usability study were not overwhelmed by the amount of tokens. Instead, confusion caused by a lack of support from the digital interface contributed to reduced usability. Improved tutorialisation and learnability could increase focused attention and learning outcomes. This thesis makes a contribution to the development of Tangible User Interfaces by offering insights into managing a large number of tokens in a playful and educational museum setting, while future research could investigate the role of collaboration and strategies for reducing interaction time.

Description

Supervisor

Nieminen, Marko

Thesis advisor

Deinum, Sven

Keywords

human-computer interaction, tangible user interfaces, physical tokens, design thinking, co-design, wizard of oz prototyping, museum interaction design

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https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202508196407

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[dipl] Perustieteiden korkeakoulu / SCI