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Chapter 25


                              FROM PETS TO STORYROOMS

                              Constructive Storytelling Systems Designed with Children,
                              for Children



                              Jaime Montemayor, Allison Druin, and James Hendler
                              University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies


                              Abstract   Working with children as our design partners, our intergenerational design team
                                         at the University of Maryland has been developing both new design methodolo-
                                         gies and new storytelling technology for children. In this chapter, we focus on
                                         two results of our efforts: PETS, a robotic storyteller, and Storykit, a construc-
                                         tion kit of low-tech and high-tech components for children to build physical
                                         interactive storytelling environments.


                              1.     Introduction

                                Since 1998 our interdisciplinary and intergenerational design team at the
                              University of Maryland has been developing new technology for children, with
                              children. Our team blends children (7-11 years old) and adults, from disci-
                              plines as diverse as engineering, education, computer science, and art. In large
                              part, because of our child design partners, we have come to focus our work
                              on the development of technology that encourages storytelling for elementary
                              school-aged children, and most recently for kindergarteners.
                                Because storytelling is inherently constructive, and since children explore
                              new ideas and feeling through stories ([6], [15], [20]), the resulting products
                              of our design team have been kits that enable children to create their own sto-
                              ries. Our research projects have evolved from PETS, an emotional storytelling
                              robot [10], to a StoryKit that enables children to build physical and interactive
                              story environments [1]. In this chapter we will first briefly describe coopera-
                              tive inquiry ([7], [9]), our design methodology for including children as design
                              partners. We then use the PETS and StoryKit projects to demonstrate how
                              storytelling technologies can enhance creativity, collaboration, and social in-
                              teractions among elementary school-aged children.
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