Nanoscale Science Education

haptics (adj.) Of or relating to the sense of touch; tactile.

American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language – Fourth Edition

In this project we are exploring the impact of haptics on learning. Haptics involves kinesthetic movement and tactile perception. The term tactile is used primarily in referring to passive touch (being touched); the term haptic refers to active touch such as how a student manipulates during hands-on science explorations. The differences in tactile and haptic experiences are not trivial. Haptics involves both active touch and kinesthetics. Active touch involves intentional actions that an individual chooses to do, whereas passive touch can occur without any initiating action.

Haptic Education
In educational settings, involving students in consciously choosing to investigate the properties of an object is a powerful motivator and increases attention to learning. Contrast this active manipulation with passive learning, such as watching a science video. In active manipulation the student expends energy and makes a decision to manipulate materials. In passive learning, such as watching a video, the student is asked only to sit and observe. It is more difficult to maintain attention and motivation in a passive learning context than an active one. Associated with active manipulation is the opportunity for the student to control actions, learning, and even the speed of exploration. Control has been shown to be an important part of intrinsic motivation (Deci, & Ryan, 1987; Deci et al., 1982).

Haptic Perception
Haptic perception involves sensors in the skin as well as the hand and arm. The movement that accompanies hands-on exploration involves different types of mechanoreceptors in the skin (involving deformation, thermoreception, and vibration of the skin), as well as receptors in the muscles, tendons, and joints involved in movement of the object (Verry, 1998). These different receptors contribute to a neural synthesis that interprets position, movement, and mechanical skin inputs. Druyan (1997) argues that this combination of kinesthetics and sensory perception creates particularly strong neural pathways in the brain.

Haptics vs. Visual
For the science learner, kinesthetics allows the individual to explore concepts related to location, range, speed, acceleration, tension, and friction. Haptics enables the learner to identify hardness, density, size, outline, shape, texture, oiliness, wetness, and dampness (involving both temperature and pressure sensations) (Druyan, 1997; Schiffman, 1976).

When haptics is compared to vision in the perception of objects, vision typically is superior with a number of important exceptions. Visual perception is rapid and more wholistic—allowing the learner to take in a great deal of information at one time. Alternatively, haptics involves sensory exploration over time and space. If you give a student an object to observe and feel, the student can make much more rapid observations than if you only gave the student the object to feel without the benefit of sight. But of interest to science educators is the question of determining what a haptic experience adds to a visual experience. Researchers have shown that haptics is superior to vision in helping a learner detect properties of texture (roughness/ smoothness, hardness/ softness, wetness/ dryness, stickiness, and slipperiness) as well as mircrospatial properties of pattern, compliance, elasticity, viscocity, and temperature (Lederman, 1983; Zangaladze, et al., 1999). Vision dominates when the goal is the perception of macrogeometry (shape) but haptics is superior in the perception of microgeometry (texture) (Sathian et al., 1997; Verry, 1998). Haptics and vision together are superior to either alone for many learning contexts.

Haptic Learning
Haptic learning plays an important role in a number of different learning environments. Students with visual impairments depend on haptics for learning through the use of Braille as well as other strategies (Sathian, 2000). Technological advances now allow for haptics to be added to a variety of computer tools. Physicians use remote touch in minimally invasive surgery through the use of haptic interfaces with force sensors that allow the surgeon to “feel” tissues and organs during surgery (Lederman & Klatzky, 2001). Haptics has been added to virtual reality environments. A recent study found that participants were able to more efficiently learn virtual mazes when haptics were added than when there were no haptic feedback cues (Insko, et al., 2001). In the present study we explore a new instructional tool that adds haptics to microscopy. With this new haptics application, students are able to feel nanosized materials such as viruses that are imaged under an atomic force microscope (described further below). We examine how tactile and kinesthetic feedback influences students’ learning.

Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1987). The support of autonomy and the control of behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53(6), 1024-1037.

Deci, E. L., Spiegel, N. H., Ryan, R. M., Koestner, R., & Kauffman, M. (1982). The effects of performance standards on teaching styles: The behavior of controlling teachers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 74, 852-859.

Druyan, S. (1997). Effect of the kinesthetic conflict on promoting scientific reasoning. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 34, 1083-1099.

Insko, B., Meehan, M., Whitton, M., & Brooks, F. (2001). Passive haptics significantly enhances virtual environments. Computer Science Technical Report 01-010, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC.

Lederman, S. (1983). Tactile roughness perception: Spatial and temporal determinants. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 37(4), 498-511.

Lederman, S.J. & Klatzky, R.L. (2001). Feeling surfaces and objects remotely. In S.A. Simon & M.A.L. Nicolelis (Series Ed.) & R. Nelson (Volume Ed.). Methods & New Frontiers in Neuroscience. The Somatosensory System: Deciphering the Brain's Own Body Image, (pp. 103-120). Florida: CRC Press LLC.

Sathian, K., Zangaladze, A., Hoffman, J., & Grafton, S. (1997). Feeling with the mind’s eye. Neuroreport, 8(18), 3877-3881.

Sathian, K., (2000). Practice makes perfect: Sharper tactile perception in the blind. Neurology, 54, 2203-2204.

Schiffman, H. (1976). Sensation and perception: An integrated approach. NY: Wiley.Shapley, K. S., & Luttrell, H. D. (1993, January). Effectiveness of a teacher training model on the implementation of hands-on science. Paper presented at the Association for the Education of Teachers in Science International Conference.

Verry, R. (1998). Don’t take touch for granted: An interview with Susan Lederman. Teaching Psychology, 25(1), 64-67.

Zangaladze, A., Epstein, C., Grafton, S., & Sathian, K. (1999). Involvement of visual cortex in tactile discrimination of orientation. Nature, 401, 587-590.

A haptic interface is a device which allows a user to interact with a computer by receiving tactile feed back.


Main Project Summary Personnel Publications Student Reports
	Learn More About... Nanotechnology Microscopy Viruses Scale Haptics
		HAPTICS haptics (adj.) Of or relating to the sense of touch; tactile. American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language – Fourth Edition Haptics and Education Research In this project we are exploring the impact of haptics on learning. Haptics involves kinesthetic movement and tactile perception. The term tactile is used primarily in referring to passive touch (being touched); the term haptic refers to active touch such as how a student manipulates during hands-on science explorations. The differences in tactile and haptic experiences are not trivial. Haptics involves both active touch and kinesthetics. Active touch involves intentional actions that an individual chooses to do, whereas passive touch can occur without any initiating action. Haptic Education In educational settings, involving students in consciously choosing to investigate the properties of an object is a powerful motivator and increases attention to learning. Contrast this active manipulation with passive learning, such as watching a science video. In active manipulation the student expends energy and makes a decision to manipulate materials. In passive learning, such as watching a video, the student is asked only to sit and observe. It is more difficult to maintain attention and motivation in a passive learning context than an active one. Associated with active manipulation is the opportunity for the student to control actions, learning, and even the speed of exploration. Control has been shown to be an important part of intrinsic motivation (Deci, & Ryan, 1987; Deci et al., 1982). Haptic Perception Haptic perception involves sensors in the skin as well as the hand and arm. The movement that accompanies hands-on exploration involves different types of mechanoreceptors in the skin (involving deformation, thermoreception, and vibration of the skin), as well as receptors in the muscles, tendons, and joints involved in movement of the object (Verry, 1998). These different receptors contribute to a neural synthesis that interprets position, movement, and mechanical skin inputs. Druyan (1997) argues that this combination of kinesthetics and sensory perception creates particularly strong neural pathways in the brain. Haptics vs. Visual For the science learner, kinesthetics allows the individual to explore concepts related to location, range, speed, acceleration, tension, and friction. Haptics enables the learner to identify hardness, density, size, outline, shape, texture, oiliness, wetness, and dampness (involving both temperature and pressure sensations) (Druyan, 1997; Schiffman, 1976). When haptics is compared to vision in the perception of objects, vision typically is superior with a number of important exceptions. Visual perception is rapid and more wholistic—allowing the learner to take in a great deal of information at one time. Alternatively, haptics involves sensory exploration over time and space. If you give a student an object to observe and feel, the student can make much more rapid observations than if you only gave the student the object to feel without the benefit of sight. But of interest to science educators is the question of determining what a haptic experience adds to a visual experience. Researchers have shown that haptics is superior to vision in helping a learner detect properties of texture (roughness/ smoothness, hardness/ softness, wetness/ dryness, stickiness, and slipperiness) as well as mircrospatial properties of pattern, compliance, elasticity, viscocity, and temperature (Lederman, 1983; Zangaladze, et al., 1999). Vision dominates when the goal is the perception of macrogeometry (shape) but haptics is superior in the perception of microgeometry (texture) (Sathian et al., 1997; Verry, 1998). Haptics and vision together are superior to either alone for many learning contexts. Haptic Learning Haptic learning plays an important role in a number of different learning environments. Students with visual impairments depend on haptics for learning through the use of Braille as well as other strategies (Sathian, 2000). Technological advances now allow for haptics to be added to a variety of computer tools. Physicians use remote touch in minimally invasive surgery through the use of haptic interfaces with force sensors that allow the surgeon to “feel” tissues and organs during surgery (Lederman & Klatzky, 2001). Haptics has been added to virtual reality environments. A recent study found that participants were able to more efficiently learn virtual mazes when haptics were added than when there were no haptic feedback cues (Insko, et al., 2001). In the present study we explore a new instructional tool that adds haptics to microscopy. With this new haptics application, students are able to feel nanosized materials such as viruses that are imaged under an atomic force microscope (described further below). We examine how tactile and kinesthetic feedback influences students’ learning. Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1987). The support of autonomy and the control of behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53(6), 1024-1037. Deci, E. L., Spiegel, N. H., Ryan, R. M., Koestner, R., & Kauffman, M. (1982). The effects of performance standards on teaching styles: The behavior of controlling teachers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 74, 852-859. Druyan, S. (1997). Effect of the kinesthetic conflict on promoting scientific reasoning. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 34, 1083-1099. Insko, B., Meehan, M., Whitton, M., & Brooks, F. (2001). Passive haptics significantly enhances virtual environments. Computer Science Technical Report 01-010, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC. Lederman, S. (1983). Tactile roughness perception: Spatial and temporal determinants. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 37(4), 498-511. Lederman, S.J. & Klatzky, R.L. (2001). Feeling surfaces and objects remotely. In S.A. Simon & M.A.L. Nicolelis (Series Ed.) & R. Nelson (Volume Ed.). Methods & New Frontiers in Neuroscience. The Somatosensory System: Deciphering the Brain's Own Body Image, (pp. 103-120). Florida: CRC Press LLC. Sathian, K., Zangaladze, A., Hoffman, J., & Grafton, S. (1997). Feeling with the mind’s eye. Neuroreport, 8(18), 3877-3881. Sathian, K., (2000). Practice makes perfect: Sharper tactile perception in the blind. Neurology, 54, 2203-2204. Schiffman, H. (1976). Sensation and perception: An integrated approach. NY: Wiley.Shapley, K. S., & Luttrell, H. D. (1993, January). Effectiveness of a teacher training model on the implementation of hands-on science. Paper presented at the Association for the Education of Teachers in Science International Conference. Verry, R. (1998). Don’t take touch for granted: An interview with Susan Lederman. Teaching Psychology, 25(1), 64-67. Zangaladze, A., Epstein, C., Grafton, S., & Sathian, K. (1999). Involvement of visual cortex in tactile discrimination of orientation. Nature, 401, 587-590. Haptic Devices A haptic interface is a device which allows a user to interact with a computer by receiving tactile feed back. MOMO Racing by Logitech Speed Force by Logitech The Phantom by Sensible Technology CyberGrasp by Immersion Corporation DELTA by Force Dimension Force Feedback2 Joystick by Microscoft Other Haptics Links Adaptive Technology Resource Center at University of Toronto