National Maritime Museum Discovery Tablet

In July 2011 Kin won a pitch to design an interactive learning tablet for keystage 3 and 4 school groups visiting the National Maritime Museum.

From this brief we developed the Discovery Tablet to provide school students with a simple set of tools that can be used to answer questions and complete tasks by investigating and interrogating the things around them.

The experience is built around five key interactions. Firstly, students use the tablet to create an identity for their team. They are then given a question or task. To complete the task they must take photos of objects in the gallery. Photos they have taken appear on a canvas where the students can make notes and discover hidden content.

The tablet uses image recognition to identify objects they have photographed and tell students more about them. Students must analyse and organise the things they have collected and decide which objects help them complete their task or answer their question.

At the end of the task the teams share and discuss their discoveries with their class, using the tablet as a presentation tool.

The tablets are protected by a recycled cardboard honeycomb casing which is then wrapped in a sail cloth casing. Webbing handles allow students to grip and brass eyelets create openings for the camera and charger.

The sailcloth covers are manufactured by Mike Putt, one of the few remaining sailmakers in the UK.