Format: On Campus
Number of Students: 6
Duration of Project: 2 June – 27 June

Application Deadline: 16 May 2025
Project Supervisor: Professor Gökçe Elif Baykal 
Research Areas:  Interaction Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Child-Computer Interaction
Daily Supervisor: 

Gökçe Elif Baykal, Ph.D. (Design Interactions Lab director - https://designinteractionslab.com/)

Mehmed Nihad Özkaya (Design, Technology, and Society Ph.D. candidate)

Ali Leylekoğlu (Design, Technology, and Society master’s student)

Cansu Akverdi (Design, Technology, and Society master’s student)

Project Description: Gesture-based Object Interaction in Virtual and Augmented Reality Technologies for Children’s Spatial Thinking Skills

About the Project: This interdisciplinary research project lies in the intersection of interaction design and cognitive development. The project is funded by TÜBİTAK 1001, The Scientific and Technological Research Projects Funding Program, for 36 months.

Project Objectives: The project aims to investigate the potential impact of gesture-based object interaction enabled by hand-tracking systems in virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR) technologies on children's spatial thinking skills and to design educational game prototypes for children with different learner characteristics. The objectives of the project are as follows:

O1. Identifying the opportunities and challenges of hand-tracking systems in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies for children's manipulative gestures: Gesture-based input will be analyzed to examine children's object interactions across different realities (physical, AR, and VR). Through this analysis, the categories of gestures used by children in different realities will be identified. 

O2. Investigating the relationship between gesture-based object interaction offered by AR and VR technologies and children's spatial thinking processes: Individual factors that play a role in children's spatial thinking skills will be examined about gesture-based object interaction in AR and VR technologies.

O3. Designing and evaluating educational game prototypes to make the opportunities provided by AR and VR technologies accessible to children: The results of the first two goals will be shared and evaluated in a creative design workshop with experts Insights and suggestions generated from the creative workshop will guide the integration of spatial thinking tasks into AR and VR environments. Based on this integration, game prototypes will be developed and evaluated.
 

Project Tasks: Students will be expected to contribute to the research tasks, including a literature review and ideating, developing, and testing the game interventions for spatial thinking tasks.  

Deliverables: Students are expected to deliver their research output in a presentation format (e.g., PowerPoint, MiroBoard, etc.) weekly. 

Benefits for the Student: Students in the project can produce a part of their internship from the project's research design. They will also have the opportunity to be involved in testing and developing the spatial tasks that will be used in the experimental studies.

Requirements: Students are required to join project meetings when needed and work in close contact with their daily supervisor. 

You can apply this project from THE LINK!