Identification and Analysis of Primary School Children’s Knowledge Acquisition: Using Knowledge Visualization Scenarios and Information Visualization Methodology

Measuring a learning effect can be a difficult task and is not made any easier with all the parameters that can be taken into account. This chapter provides an insight into what to consider as interesting parameters when evaluating an interactive learning tool. The authors introduce a visual approach to enlighten children and teachers. This is done by visualizing logging data that has been collected during learning sessions with the Virtual Savannah software. They do not leave out traditional means like observation and usability testing, since they believe a holistic view is important, and a single method of data collection is not enough to base conclusions on. To understand the authors’ approach, a short introduction on various perspectives on visualization is essential. The authors also discuss how multimedia can be used on a cognitive level to satisfy more pupils with different learning styles. Lastly, the authors present their approach and results from an in situ evaluation on primary school children. Søren Eskildsen Aalborg University, Denmark Kasper Rodil Aalborg University, Denmark Matthias Rehm Aalborg University, Denmark