Circus, Play and Technology Probes: Training Body Awareness and Control with Children

Physical training can be frustrating and hard, especially for those who experience additional challenges to access and control their proprioceptive senses. In the context of designing for children with Sensory-based Motor Disorder, we designed and deployed a series of Training Technology Probes to be used in circus training. Here we focus on how these were used, tested, and appropriated by children and instructors during a six-week circus training course. Through these explorations, we identified a range of potential benefits from using their functions in training. We present the Physical Training Technology Probes and the benefits they brought to training. We show how the technology functions helped children focus and provided feedback related to posture and balance. Furthermore, their open-ended designs and versatile options for use were crucial in exploring their contributions to training, and in how they helped foster creative engagement with technology and training. Our work contributes towards understanding the specific requirements when designing for the target group, and more generally contributes with design strategies for technology support for skill training.