A Meta-Analysis of Tangible Learning Studies from the TEI Conference

ABSTRACT Tangible learning has received increasing attention. However, in the recent decade, it has no comprehensive overview. This study aimed to fill the gap and reviewed 92 publications from all the TEI conference proceedings (2007–2021). We analysed previous studies’ characteristics (e.g., study purpose and interactive modalities) and elaborated on three common topics: collaborative tangible learning, tangibles’ impacts on learning, and comparisons between tangibles and other interfaces. Three key findings were: (1) Tangibles impacted learning because it could scaffold learning, change learning behaviour, and improve learning emotion; (2) We should see the effectiveness of tangibles with rational and critical minds. (3) Some studies emphasised too much on the interaction of tangibles and ignored their metaphor meanings. For future work, we suggest avoiding an intensive cluster on collaboration and children and consider other valuable areas, e.g., tangibles for teachers, tangibles’ social and emotional impacts on students, tangible interaction’s meaning and metaphor.