Interaction design patterns for multi-touch tabletop collaborative games

Characteristics of multi-touch tabletops, such as a large interactive surface and simultaneous multiple user inputs can be exploited in the design of interactions that facilitate positive social interaction among children during collaborative activities. Designs that facilitate behaviors like positive interdependence, group processing and social skills such as turn taking are discussed. We report qualitative observations regarding the effectiveness of the proposed interaction designs in trials involving two groups of children with contrasting psychological safety levels and formulated several generalizable design patterns that were observed to be effective in soliciting collaborative play on interactive tabletops