Facilitating learning interests through mobile information visualization

In this paper, a mobile approach for ambient learning is presented. As an example of the concept, modeling is done to deliver educational content on weather phenomenon to schoolchildren. Information visualization techniques are utilized to present an alternative approach of knowledge delivery that could be considered to be beyond conventional classroom based teachings. The concept is demonstrated with the ‘Interactive Weather Information System’ (IWIS) platform. During the user tests, the effectiveness of the proposed method on knowledge conveyance was evaluated. Usability tests showed that IWIS serves as a good stimulus to captivate the learning interests of the target user group (children from 10 to 12 years old). In addition, the new issues that surfaced could be used as design considerations or factors in subsequent research work in this area.