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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.