Abstract: "How can smartphones apps enrich the learning of mathematics
in vocational education? This article examines how
mathematics teaching can be enriched by apps using smartphone
sensors such as gyroscope, compass, camera, and
touch screen in a gaming context.
An iterative and participatory design process involving two
classes of carpentry students from different vocational colleges
resulted in two highly successful and course-relevant
games based on trigonometry. Each game consists of
quests and missions whose successful completion unlocks
more theoretical multiple-choice exercises for the classroom.
The combination of competition to unlock exercises,
competition for placing on the high-score list, and physical
activity proved very motivating for the students and was
also approved by their teachers.
In this article we describe our design principles, the overall
game architecture and the games themselves. We talk
about our experience in implementing our design process
and subsequently summarize the pros and cons of the application
and the smartphone platform and how the app developed
contributes to vocational mathematics teaching"
FAAST, built by USC's Institute for Creative Technologies, allows users to play computer games with a Kinect motion-sensor camera by translating body movements into the inputs that would otherwise be triggered a keyboard and mouse, or a gaming controller with joysticks and buttons.