Presentation for UXCamplondon based on article written on Johnny Holland (http://johnnyholland.org/2010/03/31/learning-from-our-childhood/)

1. Learning
from our
childhood

2. Learning
from our
childhood
Childrenʼs playings
are not sports and
should be deemed as
their most serious
actions – Montaigne

3. Children predominantly
learn about the
surrounding world through
many forms of play

4. alone

5. role play

6. in groups

7. but all creative

8. It is their work, always
taken extremely seriously
and “is the hallmark of the
paradoxically useful
uselessness of extended
immaturity”
From butterfly to caterpillar: How children grow up by Alison Gopnik

9. There is much we do not
recognise and there is so
much we ignore from our
immature days of play,
learning and discovery

10. Many examples of how
children view the world.
How behaviours change
as babies mature and
develop

11. Many lessons interaction
designers can learn from
the behaviours and
interactions a child has
with its environment

12. Looking

13. How do small children
look at the world around
them and the things in it?

14. Very small children have
no concept of where their
physicality ends and the
world around them begins

15. when the mother is gone,
the mother ceases to exist

16. Children look at things in
a particular way

17. An object appears and
catches a small childʼs
attention

18. The length of looking
indicates the level of
interest it has in what it is
looking at

19. The object then disappears and then
reappears. If the pattern is ʻpredictableʼ
they will look for X time. If the pattern is
broken, say for example it appears
higher or lower than anticipated, the
baby will look for X + Y time (longer)
and can be said to be more interested
in the object

20. small children will only
ever look at the adultʼs
finger pointing, not where
it is pointing

21. (Up until the age of approximately
12-15 months) The human is the only
mammal that does this. This is a fine
example of not taking for granted that
everyone sees what you expect them
to see (or hope they will see)

22. later they begin to look
where in the direction of
where it is pointing...

23. Just because you design
something and point people
at it doesnʼt necessarily mean
they will see it the way you
anticipated. Sometimes they
will only look at your pointing

24. Hiding and finding

25. young children learn how
to look and discover
where things are, go to
and appear

26. There are two places to hide a ball: either
behind point A or behind point B. To begin
with a ball is hidden behind point A. Then
while the child is watching, take the ball and
hide it behind point B. Then ask the young
child: “Where is the ball?” The young child
will first look behind point A and then move
onto looking behind point B. As they mature,
they will find the object behind point B at the
first attempt.

27. Object permanence

28. when an infant can no
longer see an object it
ceases to exist

29. “out of sight, out of mind”

30. Adults have a propensity
to look everywhere

31. that is why they are so
complicated to design for

32. Separation and attachment

33. Up to 4-6 months infants are
undifferentiatedly attached

34. happy to be held by anyone

35. After 6 months it becomes
attached to 1 person
(usually the mother)

36. Separation anxiety begins

37. The self is now recognised as separate
from the caregiver. For children up to the
age of 6 years old, it is widely accepted
that separation anxiety is their predominant
concern

38. Theory of mind

39. It is a huge development in
small children when they
learn that people see things in
a different way and from
different angles than
themselves

40. Jean Piagetʼs A, not-B error: Person A hides
an object from Person B in Place X. B then
goes away. A then moves it to Place Y. When
B returns, A asks B where he will look for the
object. Up to a certain age, children will say
X

41. one of the great insights
into human interaction
and behaviour

42. Children will stand in
front of you when you are
watching the television
when they want to watch
it too

43. They donʼt know that what
they see, the television
screen, is not what you see
(their presence blocking
the television screen)

44. Reading a book with a child. The child
will hold it so they can see the book.
After acquiring Theory of Mind they will
hold the book so that you can see the
book too

45. Preoperational Thought

46. Young children do not
understand the
significance of the
transformation between
states

47. transforming the shape of
a liquid (pouring it from
one container into another)
does not change the
amount

48. In front of a 5 year old child, pour the same
amount of milk into one squat glass and one
tall glass and then ask the child which glass
has the most in it? The child will say the tall
glass. Again in front of the child, pour the milk
out of the squat glass into a new tall glass
and the milk out of the first tall glass into a
new squat glass. Again, ask the child which
glass has the most in it and it will say the tall
glass.

49. Feedback

50. At approximately
6 years old, most
children can tell you
what they think you
want to know

51. you can actually
conduct an interview
with a child and
discourse analysis
is possible

52. Conclusion

53. The closer attention we pay
to the way that children
interact with the world around
them

54. – whether they are our own
offspring and we view them in
close proximity or through
relations and or friends

55. – the stronger interaction
designers we will be

56. Matthew Solle
images by Helen Stratton
from Grimmʼs & Han
Andersenʼs Fairy Tales
published by Blackie 1903