Construct and Play: Engaging Students with Visualizations through Playful Methods

This paper describes a playful constructive visualization workshop for students aged 9 to 15. The workshop aims to explore how using playful elements, such as LEGO® bricks, physical building blocks, or paper and colored pencils, can increase students’ engagement in exploring data through the construction of visualizations. The paper also discusses related work in visualization education and playful teaching methods, such as constructive exercises using plastic tokens or LEGO® bricks. Playful learning environments can enhance student motivation and produce the joy of learning. Constructing visualizations manually using playful materials can help students better understand data and interpret visualizations by providing a tangible “object to think” with.