Interactive floor wins Red dot award
On Friday 30 November, the creators of the interactive floor known as the "Wisdom Well" received a prestigious international design prize, the Red Dot Award. The award ceremony took place at the Red Dot Design Museum in Singapore.
Together with 17 out of 884 other submitted contributions, the Wisdom Well was awarded the distinction "Red dot: best of the best for highest design quality" in the 'design concepts' category.
A forerunner of the Wisdom Well – the so-called iFloor – was awarded the Danish Design Prize in 2004, and the more advanced Wisdom Well has now won international recognition with one of the world's most prestigious design prizes.
Screen in the floor
The idea behind the Wisdom Well is to integrate IT into teaching in an entirely new way. The interactive floor, which is in daily use at Møllevang School in Aarhus, provides a supplement to the pupils' sedentary work in front of the computer. The computer is replaced by a 12 sq. m. monitor recessed into the floor, which has an innovative user interface. By using their feet and hands like a computer mouse, pupils can 'click' on the screen and thereby solve various exercises in, for example, English and German. They can compete with each other in mathematics games, and make active use of their bodies in the process. The concept is based on research which has shown that physical activity stimulates learning; the technical term is "kinesthetic learning".
The Wisdom Well fulfils both a social and an educational role by combining play, exercise and teaching. It is also used in special teaching for pupils who are hard of hearing.
Learning games
"The Wisdom Well provides an exciting supplement to ordinary teaching," says Gitte Molbæk, educational IT adviser at Møllevang School. "We use the Well for learning games developed by the school's teachers, and the children can also invent games and exercises for each other. It teaches them teamwork at the same time as they learn about the specific subjects."
"Right now, some of the school's teachers are in the process of developing exercises for the subject of nature and technology, and the mathematics teachers have plans to use the Wisdom Well in geometry teaching."
Textbook example
Louise Gade, Alderman for Children and Young People in Aarhus, sees great potential in the Wisdom Well:
"My warmest congratulations to the research network behind the project – but also to the children, who are at the centre of an incredibly exciting development in the interface between play, studies and IT. We have so far set aside DKK 500 million over the next 10 years to develop and improve the physical surroundings, and the Wisdom Well is a textbook example of a suitable project. I am glad that we have the leading experts in the field right here in Aarhus – that is just marvellous."
Great interest
The Wisdom Well at Møllevang School functions like a living laboratory, in which the researchers and teachers are continually developing new applications while at the same time improving the system’s technical functioning.
The creators of the Wisdom Well are now working to refine the concept into marketable versions, partly based on a less expensive solution which uses a projector and camera mounted in the ceiling, and partly in a model corresponding to that of Møllevang School, for new school buildings. The market is there: several schools have already expressed an interest, and the concept can also be used in many other contexts, such as shopping centres, museums and libraries. Contact has been established with potential investors.
Further information:
Karsten Bro, architect, Arkitema, mobile +45 2264 2285, e-mail: kbr@arkitema.dk
Professor Kaj Grønbæk, Department of Computer Science, University of Aarhus, director of the Centre for Interactive Spaces, tel. +45 8942 5636, mobile +45 2149 5634, e-mail: kgronbak@daimi.au.dk
Ulla Madsen Thau PhD, civil engineer, Søren Jensen, consulting engineers, tel. +45 4194 9439, e-mail: umt@sj.dk
Peter Bræmer, product manager, Danish Data Display A/S, mobile +45 2810 6681, e-mail: pb@dansk-data-display.dk
The Wisdom Well has been developed by researchers at the Centre for Interactive Spaces (www.interactivespaces.net), the University of Aarhus and the Aarhus School of Architecture, in co-operation with the architectural practice Arkitema, Søren Jensen A/S consultant engineers, Danish Data Display, the Alexandra Institute and Aarhus Municipality.
The project is financed by Aarhus Municipality, Boligfonden kuben, NCC, and the Oticon Foundation.