FunTable:A Cooperative Drawing System for Kids on a Multi-touch Tabletop

Currently it is common to find self-centered phenomena in children.Therefore,the problem of lacking cooperation consciousness is gradually highlighted.This paper introduces a design and realization of a cooperative drawing system for kids,FunTable,which is based on a multi-touch digital tablet platform.With harmonious human computer interactive technology and multimedia design,FunTable tries to provide a new way to improve the children’s cooperative ability.Firstly,we analyze the cooperation ability structure as cooperation cognition,cooperation emotion,cooperation willpower and cooperation skill.Regarding the four parts as the evaluation criteria,we design the functions of FunTable.Then,considering the characteristics of children’s cognition,security,and user experience,the user interface and hardware structure for cooperative multi-user system are discussed.Lastly,aprototype of FunTable is built and software functions are also implemented on it.A sample of 36preschoolers from a public kindergarten is involved in actual experiments.The results indicated that FunTable was very attractive to children,and has significantly stimulated children’s drawing motivation and positively improved their will to collaborate.Through more observations in theexperiments,the value of multimedia human computer interactive technology for children’s cooperative ability development is also discussed in this paper.