Didactics, movement and technology: new frontiers of the human-machine interaction

Abstract

The current focus on the use of new technologies and media for teaching-learning purposes has led to an intensifying interest in the properties and peculiarities of educational videogames. Creating a learning environment within a video game might be an opportunity to capitalize and use in a constructive way the time that more and more teens spend playing video games. In light of this, it is particularly interesting the continuous evolution of computer videogames known as "exergames", a term derived from the joining of the words "exercise" and "games". Exergames are video games which encourage the emotional involvement and the sense of presence through interactions based on devices that allow a greater involvement of the body respect to typical controllers such as joysticks, joy pads, keyboards and mousses. These games involve the player in some form of exercise and physical activity through video games and specific feedback and data collection devices. The aim of this study, which is currently under development, is therefore to design an active and engaging learning environment in order to assess whether it is suitable to stimulate and facilitate the learning processes, particularly focusing on the functions of coordination and sensorimotor integration, through the typical interaction of exergames and exploiting the properties and peculiarities of the Microsoft Kinect system as a device to acquire data on the body movements of the player.