Supporting children’s small group storytelling with Single Display Groupware …to cut a long story short… Giulia Gelmini Learning Sciences Research Institute University of Nottingham

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6 Problem space Primary concern on supporting CL in elementary schools (Cohen, 1994, Nastasi & Clements 1991, O’Donnell & King, 1999, Webb & Palincsar, 1996) Skills, time, resources required from teachers to make it work Skills, time, resources required from teachers to make it work (Hastings & Chantrey-Wood, 2002) Sitting in groups but not working as groups Sitting in groups but not working as groups (Galton et al., 1999) ! !

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12 Drop sexy technology into the equation

13 StoryTable StoryTable is a Single Display Groupware (SFG = applications that support the work of co-located groups over a physically shared display. SDGs allow the simultaneous use of multiple input devices). (Stewart et al., 1999) Supports 2 users at a time Actions are traced back to the person performing it (MERL DiamondTouch) Touch & drag widget selection Event system implemented: specific events are only triggered via jointly / simultaneously performed touch

14 The StoryTable interface Backgrounds Characters

15 The StoryTable interface Backgrounds Audio snippet Characters Microphone

16 The StoryTable interface Backgrounds Audio snippet PlayList Characters Microphone

17 Studies 2. StoryTable’s effectiveness in promoting 2.1 on task behaviour 2.2 equal participation 1. Usability testing

18 Studies 2. StoryTable’s effectiveness in promoting 2.1 on task behaviour 2.2 equal participation 1. Usability testing

19 Case study One boy and one girl (7.5 & 8 years old) Collaborative story-making with StoryTable and with puppets One individual story each (baseline measure)

20 Questions: Story Making (Process): Story Making (Process): On task behaviour? Story Telling (Outcome): Story Telling (Outcome): Equal participation?

21 Results (Story-Making process) Promoting on-task behaviour Language functions (Halliday, 1973) Regulatory utterances: regulating others’ behaviours (e.g. ‘Pass me my glasses’, ‘It’s your turn’) Heuristic utterances: exploring the environment (e.g. ‘We have 4 characters we can play with’) Imaginative utterances: creating imaginary worlds (e.g. ‘The princess is locked in the tower’)

22 Results (Story-Making process) Promoting on-task behaviour ST Fosters collaborative story making: children are more on task

23 Results (Story-Telling outcome) Promoting equal participation ST fosters collaborative story telling: less active children participate more Girl alone Boy alone Together, NO StoryTable Together,StoryTable Episodes Utterances

24 Results (Story-Telling outcome) Promoting equal participation

25 Ownership accountability? Limited resources? External story representation?... Measures: Look at play as well as language? Qualitative observations reveal reciprocal support Exploring story elements for others to make story Holding snippet for other child to record

26 The StoryTable interface Backgrounds Audio snippet PlayList Characters Microphone

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