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I. Design Objectives and Significance
General Description and Design Goals
Creatopia is a toy that will help children ages 7-10 years old, to improve their storytelling and narrative-building skills. To develop these skills, the design team had three design goals in mind when they created Creatopia:
- Provide a rich narrative context and visualization tool for children to develop their storywriting and telling skills
- Engage children in imaginative play
- Encourage social interaction among children through collaborative play
By engaging in imaginative play through Creatopia, children gain narrative-building skills such as creating characters as well as various story paths and scenarios. More than enhancing narrative-building skills, Creatopia also encourages social interaction. Children may collaborate not only in creating characters but also in making and narrating their stories on the 3D platform.
Creatopia has two major components: a handheld device that allows children to create their own characters and a three-dimensional (3D)platform. Each set of Creatopia includes two handhelds and one 3D platform.
Handheld Device
The handheld device allows children to create characters that they’ve drawn themselves by taking pictures of them with the handheld’s built-in camera. Children may also take pictures of people and objects that they find in their surroundings and make them elements of the story they are creating. Once they’ve taken pictures, they may save their pictures in the handheld under any name they wish.
The Creatopia handheld also lets children create a personality profile for their characters. They can enter character traits to personalize their characters and distinguish them from others. Aside from the ability to profile, the handheld also equips children with editing capabilities; they may edit their characters using a touch screen interface that is similar to that KidPix and Adobe Photoshop.
The handhelds possess wireless technology. As such, children may opt to beam their characters to other children’ handhelds. In this way, they can not only share their creations with their friends, they can also design characters together. Once they’ve finalized their character creations, children may beam their characters to the 3D platform.
The buttons of the handheld are similar to the Nintendo controls. There is one main navigator button on the left side of the handheld for going up and down on the menu screens. On the right side, there are two buttons: one for turning the device on and off, and one for “Enter” to execute menu commands. The handheld measures 4 x 6 inches.
Three-Dimensional Platform
Like the handheld device, the 3D platform is also equipped with wireless technology. As a result, children may upload the contents of their handheld to the platform. The platform letschildren save their uploaded images. Once the images are uploaded, the platform creates holograms of these images, through extrapolation. The platform can take images from different handhelds; thus, encouraging children to upload together with other children and subsequently create stories on the platform together.
The 3D platform has built-in settings for the children’ stories. They may choose story backdrops such as “Forest”, “Castle” or “City.”The platform also comes with a wirelessly-activated microphone that children may use to narrate their stories. As they narrate their stories, the platform’s advanced voice recognition and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities will translate the narration into the characters’ actions. For instance, if the kid says “Mary jumped over the fence,” the hologram of the character Mary will jump over the fence soon after the narration is done.
In order to preserve a record of the children’ stories played out on the platform, the platform may also save stories through a recording function. The recording, saving and setting functions of the platform may be accessed through the handheld. Within a 1-foot radius, any handheld may be used as a control panel for the platform. Within this radius, children may access menu screens pertaining to the platform’s different functions of saving both characters and stories, recording stories, choosing a setting, and playing back a recorded story. The final function mentioned allows children to play back a story they’ve recorded in order for them to present it to their family, friends or family. The platform measures 2.5 feet in diameter.
Scenarios of Use
We envision this toy to be used both at home and in school. The following two storyboards detail both scenarios:
Creatopia at Home
Creatopia in School
II. Design Rationale
The design of Creatopia was inspired by the puppet theatre.Singer described puppet theaters as having a “special role in enhancing narrative and imaginative skills” (1994). He also proposed that “we need more and varied forms of such story-provoking play kits” (1994). Creatopia may very well be that story-provoking play kit, with its special features that aim to improve children’s narrative skills and expand their imagination.
According to Singer (1994), children who play with puppets are expected to enjoy games for their own sake, playing out roles and taking on different voices and situations. Like the puppet theatre, Creatopia lets children express their thoughts and transform their experiences through a small-scale, controllable form. By playing with this toy, children are given opportunities to be creative in creating characters, scenarios and story plots.
The design of Creatopia was shaped by three kinds of research literature: developmental appropriateness, imaginative play and narrative building.
Developmental Appropriateness
Because Creatopia is designed for 7 to 10 year olds (referred to as “middle childhood” in developmental literature), we envision it as a bridge between the pre-operational stage (2-7 years old) and the concrete operations stage (7-11 years old). Creating a bridge is possible since, according to Williams and Stith (1974):
Cognitive development is gradual and continuous, as is physical development. The stages are not all “pure”; that is children may exhibit a number of cognitive behaviors simultaneously—some characteristic ofone stage, others representative of a higher level of function.
The pre-operational stage is characterized by, among other features, symbolic play, while the concrete operations stage is characterized by “an increase in cooperation with others, less isolated play or play simply in the company of others” (Williams and Stith, 1974). Creatopia capitalizes on this inclination towards collaborative play by encouraging multiple players in the use of the handhelds and the 3D platform. Creatopia’s handhelds allow children to share and create characters together as well use their imagination in creating fictional stories.
Since middle childhood is the time when children develop into fluent readers, they gain new material for fantasy and play activities through reading (Lieberman, 1977). We realized that as children in middle childhood are developing into fluent readers, their writing skills are developing as well. Part of developing writing skills is character development. From ages 8-12, children are able to understand internal attributes such as feelings, intentions and psychological functions of characters. However, the skills in understanding in-depth characters are still developing (Huard, 2000). Through Creatopia, the symbolic play of the pre-operational stage can expand into richer imaginative play enhanced by the young reader’s new knowledge and cognitive skills developed during the concrete operations stage.Because children at this age are really beginning to understand characters, it is an appropriate time to start developing their own skills at creating in-depth characters.
Imaginative Play
Foremost in the design of Creatopia is the creation of opportunities for children to imagine. From the creation of their own characters to their interactions with the characters in the 3D projection field, children are encouraged to engage in imaginative play. The design team’s belief in the importance of imaginative play takes root in a body of developmental literature that assert the importance of imaginative play in the formation of adaptive thinking processes and narrative skills. According to Singer (1994), narrative thought is the ability of people to mirror events, form them into stories and to create possible worlds for inner play or for practical anticipation. He goes on to state that:
With the proper environment, parental acceptance, playfulness, storytelling, and reading, and with the availability of some kind of toys, children can sharpen their capacities for narrative thought. As they do they can enjoy childhood more fully and later, as adults, reap the benefits of a wide-ranging imaginative capacity.
Imaginative play has an important developmental role in middle childhood; imaginative play is important in the development of symbolic representation of experience, understanding of feelings and emotions, exploring identities, and making and maintaining friendship (Amaro and Moreira, 2001). As children engage in imaginative play through Creatopia, they are able to express their feelings and ideas, as well as share common experiences with other children. While expressing their ideas and creating their stories, they explore their own identities and that of other children.
Imaginative play through Creatopia, not only fosters the exploration of children’s identities and their ability for self-expression, but also stimulates children’ abilities to create imagery and detail. Koste (1995) writes about the “amazing detail” that characterizes children’s dramatic play citing children’ often meticulous attention to the props (real or imaginary) used during play. Singer and Singer (1990) also discuss this great attention to detail in make-believe play. They propose that by paying so much attention to sensory detail these children are actually “practicing and sharpening their capacity for imagery.” In fact, Singer and Singer cite research suggestingthat for some children make-believe play can enhance their “ability to produce more thoroughly rounded thematic stories” and stimulate abilities related to story creation. In designing Creatopia, the design team wanted to provide children with tools that would allow the imagery and detail they conceive in their minds, to come to life as they imagined it.
NarrativeBuilding
There are three skills in narrative-building that became the focus of Creatopia: visualization, collaboration, and character development. The process of creating the character and stage setting through the handheld, being able to share these elements with friends and classmates, and subsequently being able to see their creations come to life on the stage we hope will enable children to create richer characters and in turn richer stories.
Creatopia aids visualization in two ways: first, by letting the childrendraw and design their characters and other setting elements through the handheld and second, by creating holograms of these characters and objects on the platform. Fisher (1990) writes that some children find it easier to think visually rather than in words, and often “find it easier to understand something in visual terms. These visualization tools that Creatopia offers, helps children with their writing, especially if they have trouble expressing themselves in words. Seeing the characters will also help young storywriters who are “stuck” at certain parts of the story; seeing 3D images of their setting and their characters can aid them in the development of a storyline.
The 3D and handhelds also give story creation with Creatopia a collaborative aspect. Children can share characters they’ve created with friends and classmates via the handheld and can ask for suggestions or even work on the characters together.Children can also share stories they’ve created with others using the 3D platform. They can also narrate stories together.Being able to share characters and present stories gives children an authentic audience, which leads to an increase in the quality of written work (Kamil, Kim and Intrator, 2000).
In addition to visualizing and collaborating to create stories, Creatopia also helps children develop characters. Leavell and Ioannides (1993) suggest that if children “do not understand the roles characters play in a story, they may not be able to comprehend or write well-developed stories.” With Creatopia, young storywriters will define their characters first, and then develop their stories; Sawyer (2001) stated that modern playwrights, improvisational actors, and children use this technique already. As an aid to the writing process, modern playwrights “form mental images of their characters even before they’ve selected a location or conceived of a plot” (Sawyer, 2001). For improvisational actors, once they have created the characters and relationships in a scene, the plot follows naturally through the characters’ dialogue (Sawyer, 2001).
Children too, recognize the importance of character creation in their pretend play activities. Sawyer (2001) said that “enacting a play character provides a stable center for their play, and allows them to focus on other properties of the improvisation.” Well-developed characters become an anchor for writers’ stories, and will help the plot unfold more naturally. By turning mental images of characters and other story elements into hologram images through Creatopia, children can develop their stories with less difficulty.
Creatopia’s character development function is not limited to they physicality of a character; it also lets children make profiles for their character. This function would help build the children’ understanding of the characters’ inner attributes and was informed by the findings of the Improv Puppets study where children not only just relied on the character attributes that the Improv Puppets software program offered, but also added their own descriptions of the characters’ internal attributes (Huard, 2000).
Creatopia will not only make the story writing process easier by building their narrative skills, it also makes the creative process more enjoyable. Essex(1996) stated that for many children creating characters or “invisible friends” is the most fun aspect of story writing. Childrencan conceive of the wildest, funniest characters and then see them come to life.
III. Design Process
First Brainstorming Session
During the first brainstorming session, the design team threw out ideas on what kind of toy they were most interested in. Common within the team was an interest in helping children tell stories and in literacy .The group made notes and sketches of possible toy ideas. At the end of the first session, the design team agreed on designing a toy that would help nursery school children (3-5 years old) create narratives despite their “limited” ability to communicate ideas in a coherent, story format. The idea of making a tool that would help children create their own characters or somehow incorporate characters they like from storybooks and cartoons was broached and was interesting to the whole team.
Second Brainstorming Session
During the second brainstorming session, the design team decided to build on the idea of creating characters. The team wanted to have a toy that possessed a character-making capability. The team also wanted the children to have the option of animating the characters they’ve created.
The design team started sketching in the second brainstorming session. During this session, possible product features as well as technologies were explored by the team. The kinds of technology discussed included digital video, digital still camera, drawing software tools, stylus pen and touch panel, and game pad like controller. The team’s concern was how to use technologies to provide scaffolding to the users in making characters and creating stories. In addition, the team talked about the interface issue, how they could make the interface simple enough for children.
The final product sketch resembled a simplified digital still camera with a large LCD screen. Children could take pictures of the things around them and from these pictures make digital stills. These digital stills could then put together to create a movie.
Idea Gathering
The design team visited BingNursery School in EscondidoVillage, located in the StanfordUniversity campus, for idea gathering. Following a request from the school, the team did theirobservation individually. Each observation was about thirty minutes to an hour. At the BingNursery School, the design team was able to observe the children’s natural love for listening to stories being read to them, as well as their natural creative impulses. It was also an opportunity to explore the more “traditional”, school-based techniques of encouraging children to write and express themselves; by knowing of these techniques, we could better use technology in enriching or filling the gaps in traditional methods.
BingNursery School has a “storytelling station”, a table with various materials for children to create their own “books.” Usually, an adult staff member wasat the storytelling station to assist children. “Books” was what children called a piece of paper with three squares on it, where they can illustrate their story. After making pictures with colored markers, they would ask their teacher to put words at the bottom of each square describing each drawing. The storytelling station also had a large map on an easel, reflecting the floor plan of the classroom. Children are free to stick drawings of the various things they found inside the classroom on the floor plan, to construct a map of the room. It was also very obvious that storybooks were in every corner of the room.