This button makes you go up: three-year-olds and the Nintendo controller

Area of Science:

• Human-computer interaction
• Child development
• Usability engineering

Background:

• Preschool-aged children exhibit a wide range of cognitive and motor skills.
• Designing user interfaces for young children requires careful consideration of their developmental stages.
• Nintendo controllers are commonly used by children, making them relevant for interface studies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the usability of directional versus non-directional interfaces for three-year-old children.
• To investigate how age affects children's performance with different controller interfaces.
• To inform the design of age-appropriate interfaces for preschool children.

Main Methods:

• A cursor-placement task was administered to 43 three-year-old children.
• Two software interfaces were tested: directional and non-directional.
• Children's performance and ease of use were recorded for each interface.

Main Results:

• Younger three-year-olds found the non-directional interface slightly easier.
• Older three-year-olds performed better with the directional interface.
• All children experienced usability issues with the non-directional interface, increasing with age.

Conclusions:

• Interface design for preschoolers should account for developmental variations.
• Directional interfaces may be more effective for older preschoolers.
• Usability challenges with simpler interfaces highlight the need for tailored design solutions.