Anais do IHC'2001 - Departamento de Informática e Estatística - UFSC

Anais do IHC’2001 - IV Workshop sobre Fatores Humanos em Sistemas Computacionais 229
Semiotic Considerations on Direct Concept Manipulation as a
Distinct Interface Style for Learnware
Clarisse Sieckenius de Souza 1
, Kamran Sedig 2
1 Departamento de Informática, PUC-Rio
Rua Marquês de São Vicente, 225
22453-900 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ – BRAZIL
Information and Media Studies & Computer Science
The University of Western Ontario
Middlesex College, Rm 360
London, Ontario, CANADA, N6A 5B7
clarisse@inf.puc-rio.br, sedig@uwo.ca
Abstract. Although direct manipulation (DM) has been considered a potentially
inappropriate interface style for learnware, convincing indication that the
problem with DM lies rather on “what is manipulated” than on the
“manipulation” itself has been obtained from empirical studies in the domain of
Euclidean geometry. A semiotic examination of such findings suggests that there
may be theoretically-based constraints on the kinds of visualizations that yield
appropriate direct concept manipulation interfaces for learnware.
Introduction
Previous research about interface styles for learnware has suggested that direct
manipulation (DM) is a potentially inappropriate design choice in this case, because ease of
use and low cognitive effort may not be effective for learning purposes [Golightly, 1996;
Golightly et al., 1996; Golightly & Gilmore, 1997; Holst, 1996; Rappin et al. 1997].
Convincing indication that the problem with DM lies rather on what is manipulated than on
the manipulation itself has appeared in empirical studies carried out with apprentices using
Super Tangrams © [Sedig et al., 2001] to learn and retain the knowledge involved in
translation, rotation, and reflection of geometric objects. Direct Object Manipulation
(DOM) has been shown to lead to a faulty understanding of abstract general concepts in the
domain of 2-dimensional transformations in Euclidean geometry, whereas Direct Concept
Manipulation (DCM) has led apprentices to learn the targeted concepts.
The reification of abstract concepts as visual manipulable forms hinges on important
semiotic issues. When it comes to designing DCM interfaces for learnware, the availability
of a general framework to guide choices among visual icons, indices or symbols would
possibly increase the quality of such applications and their effectiveness as educational
tools. Nevertheless, practical design guidelines and techniques can only emerge from a
systematic and comprehensive analysis of visual communication codes and their impact on
learning.
This paper is a first step in this direction. It presents a semiotic analysis of the Super
Tangrams © interface style, whose dimensions are used to reinterpret results reported in
research about diagrammatic reasoning [Stenning & Inder, 1995; Stenning & Oberlander,