# Designing Pedagogically Effective Haptic Systems for Learning: A Review
## 5 Conclusions  
Haptic technology provides a virtual, yet embodied, avenue of interaction with subject material to students. It has wide-reaching applicability in fields including: STEM, Medicine, Disability Education, and Language/Handwriting acquisition. In the STEM field, haptic technology has been found to provide an embodied and concrete way of interaction with the abstract concepts found in the STEM field. Haptic technology can provide this outcome by facilitating the acquisition of biologically secondary knowledge through biologically primary methods of embodied interaction, according to [PERSON]'s account of Cognitive Load Theory. This embodied way of understanding subject material through haptics has been referred to as a \"Haptic Bridge\" by [PERSON] et al. [24] and is thought to create a bridge between an action completed and conceptual understanding of the user, by-passing normal cognitive working memory processing constraints via capitalizing on innate processing mechanisms refined through evolution. Haptic technology has also been found to free up cognitive load during medical simulation [27], thus leading to faster and more accurate completion of the surgical simulation. In the realm of medical and veterinary education, haptic technology provides a realistic and reusable avenue of training. It can reduce the use of cadavers or live subjects, thus reducing concerns for subject welfare and also increasing the number of resources available to the student. Haptictechnology has also proven to be a useful tool for those who are visually disabled, as it provides an additional avenue of interaction with subject material and can implement lasting, transferable results [46]. Language learning and handwriting acquisition has also been found to benefit from haptics due to the embodied nature of design and motor skills training. Studies suggest an embodied role in language and literacy learning [49].  
It was found that across disciplines, haptic technology provided the most learning benefit when it was implemented early-on in the learner's training progression. This suggests haptic technology may serve a role in creating an embodied foundation. It was also found that exaggerated and more sensitive haptic devices delivered better learning outcomes to the users. For abstract subjects, such as those found in the STEM field, more immersion and the higher degree of haptic feedback experienced led to better learning outcomes. Increased realism of the haptic simulation was indicated to be beneficial to the user, however it wasn't found to be necessary in certain contexts. For example, surgical simulations were found to benefit from increased realism, but haptic-augmented notebooks were effective in creating positive learning outcomes even without realistic feedback [6]. Haptic augmentation is in part interpreted by the user, emphasizing the need to determine which actions best benefit learning outcomes.  
Conceptualization, E.K.; methodology, R.C. and E.K.; resources, E.K.; data curation, R.C.; writing--original draft preparation, R.C.; writing--review and editing, E.K. and R.C.; supervision, E.K. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.  
This research received no external funding.  
Not applicable.  
The authors would like to thank [PERSON], a graduate student at the Robotics and Haptics Lab at the School of Engineering & Technology at Central Michigan University for her help in reviewing and proofreading the final draft of the manuscript.  
The authors declare no conflict of interest.  
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