Can walking the dog and talking to a bear help kids get back to school? That's what two master students at NTNU in Trondheim tried to find out.
In spring 2018, Arne Henden Aaraas and Ingeborg Skogsfjord finished their master's theses at the Faculty for architecture and design at NTNU. Both of them are part of the Tackl project, where we investigate how to help school refusers get back to school.
To address the problem, Henden Aaraas developed a prototype of a chatbot bear that helped the kids articulate their feelings about school and other aspects of life, making it easier for them to reflect on their own well-being. Read his full thesis here
Many of the kids with school refusal experience difficulties walking to and from school. Ingeborg Skogsfjord addresses that issue in her prototype where kids can walk their very own virtual dog to school every morning, making the way to school more compelling. Here you can read her thesis
Both projects have given valuable insight to the further development of Tackl.