Designing the Sonic Blocks

This work gives an account of the design developmentand deployment of the Sonic Blocks with a smallgroup of children in a primary school. The work gained an understanding of the blocks uniquecapabilities to enable physical and embodiedinteraction for exploratory and expressive soundmaking purposes.The findings include a comparison to conventionalmusic making software on a personal computer andinsights into the ability of the Sonic Blocks tomediate a collaborative music making activity withchildren. This work also gives a rigorous account ofthe design process used to create the Sonic Blocksframed through a review of contemporary literature inthe fields of tangible interaction interactiondesign perceptual psychology and constructivistlearning.This work will be useful for researchers and studentsof Human Computer Interaction Interaction DesignUbiquitous Computing Tangible and PhysicalInteraction and Learning with Technologies.