SBIR Phase I: Novel device to enhance the traditional paper book reading experience for young children

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目的更广泛/商业影响是为幼儿教育开发一种创新的、无屏幕的互动教育设备。该项目将把一种类似书籍的设备推向市场，当页面被按下时，它可以提供音频内容，从而为从幼儿园到二年级的儿童提供科学、技术、工程和数学方面的混合媒体互动内容的可行性。通过对儿童如何使用设备上的内容与纸质和平板电脑形式的相同内容进行科学研究，该项目试图证明替代、无屏幕、互动学习的好处。该项目利用了基础教育学。它还有可能提高美国公众的科学素养和对科学技术的参与度，同时通过减少幼儿对屏幕的上瘾而提供重要的健康益处。过长的屏幕时间与一系列负面健康后果有关，包括肥胖风险增加、睡眠质量下降以及社交和情绪发育受损。该项目通过将设备直接商业化并与学校合作，有可能产生可观的收入。该项目将通过将技术无缝地整合到传统图书格式中，为幼儿开发一种创新的无屏幕学习工具。拟议的平台由三个主要组件组成：容纳可交换书籍插页的书籍封面，响应页面触摸播放音频的嵌入式电子设备，以及支持互动和连接的软件。微控制器识别插入的纸质书，并使用设备上存储的内容提供个性化的交互体验。印在书页上的按钮图标与设备中嵌入的物理按钮网格精确对准，支持学习活动。这个项目的成功需要开发三个硬件组件和三个软件组件，它们在一个相互连接的生态系统中无缝地协同工作。研发团队专注于开发一种可推向市场并出售给客户的可行设备，发布最初的基于故事的内容库，并进行用户测试研究，以了解儿童如何与基于屏幕的替代设备接触。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader/commercial impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is the development of an innovative, screenless, interactive educational device for early childhood education. The project will bring to market a book-like device that delivers audio content when the pages are pressed, establishing the viability of delivering mixed-media interactive content in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics for children from kindergarten to second grade. By performing a scientific study of how children engage with content on the device relative to the same content in paper and tablet form, this project seeks to prove the benefits of alternative, screenless, interactive learning. The project leverages fundamental educational science. It also has the potential to improve public scientific literacy and engagement with science and technology in the United States while offering important health benefits by reducing screen addiction in young children. Excessive screen time has been linked to a range of negative health outcomes, including increased risk of obesity, decreased sleep quality, and impaired social and emotional development. The project has the potential to generate significant revenue by commercializing the device both directly to consumers and through partnerships with schools.This project will see the development of an innovative, screenless learning tool for young children, by seamlessly integrating technology into a traditional book format. The proposed platform consists of three major components: a book cover that houses swappable book inserts, embedded electronics that play audio in response to a page touch, and software that powers interactions and connectivity. A microcontroller recognizes an inserted paper book and offers a personalized interactive experience using content stored on the device. Button icons printed on the book pages line up precisely with a physical button grid embedded in the device, supporting learning activities. The success of this project requires the development of three hardware components and three software components that seamlessly work together in a connected ecosystem. The research and development team focuses on developing a workable device that can be brought to market and sold to customers, releasing an initial story-based content library, and conducting a user-testing study to learn about how children engage with the device relative to screen-based alternatives.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.