Representation is a central construct in the creative process. Exploring alternate representations can significantly increase the quality of artifacts created, and using multiple representations enables creators to broadly consider the multifaceted nature of the problem spaces they explore. Narrative offers an ideal laboratory for investigating multiple representations in the creative process because stories can be expressed in rich text (a static, uni-modal representation) re-represented in animated stories with accompanying narration and spoken dialogue (a dynamic, multimodal representation). The objective of the proposed research is to design, build, and empirically evaluate an interactive creativity environment that facilitates the exploration of alternate representations in the creative process. In particular, the proposed work will focus on the Narrative Theatre, an interactive narrative-centered creativity environment.
The project will yield a cognitive account of creativity that will inform the design of next-generation creativity environments. By promoting rich interactions that are simultaneously effective and engaging, it will find broad application in education and training technologies. The project will increase the participation of women and underrepresented minorities. It will involve a diverse population in the Narrative Theatre user studies, it will involve women in all aspects of the research, it will train undergraduates through involvement in formal and informal research exposure efforts, and it will increase the participation of women and underrepresented groups in computer science through interaction with the STARS Alliance.
Research indicates a critical need for middle school students to acquire sustainable writing habits in order to develop fluency as they progress into more demanding academic contexts and ultimately into the workforce. Developing effective writing skills is therefore a central focus of middle grade language arts curricula. While recent findings on the acquisition of writing skills are producing instructional changes for young children, pedagogical changes are slower to make their way into middle school classrooms. The project centered on the design, implementation, and empirical study of an interactive creativity environment that supports the creative writing process for middle grade students. The Narrative Theatre provides a multimedia interface that supports multiple phases of creative composition. Case study results suggest that the Narrative Theatre facilitated increased text production and self-efficacy. Teachers involved in the study anecdotally reported high levels of engagement and writing production on the part of the students as compared to when students participated in standard writing assignments during classroom instruction. One teacher observed that the Narrative Theatre "empowered my lowest performing students to produce a substantial piece of writing. … I would love to use this in my classroom to further support all my students in writing tasks." With the success of the project, future work will explore how the Narrative Theatre can serve as a foundation for writing support tools for all phases of the composition process.
