Activity Scenario for Sally (“Remaining Water in Beaker” PT approach):
For Computer Simulation
Aims of scenario-based development techniques:
Through building a scenario for Sally we can:
- identify the characteristics of target audience, their background and expectations.
- discover the details of activities that he will be going through, including problems encountered, thought processes
- Identify the key features that will affect users in this context as well as raising more questions to achieve usability of the target users.
- enable PT team to reach agreement to enable work to proceed
Actors
Sally is a 5th grader at Palo Alto elementary school. Her grade for Science is above average, but Science is not her favorite subject. She likes reading and writing her own stories. She doesn’t think she’s good at science, but she is very intuitive when it comes to problem solving. She is comfortable with computers (PC-windows). She spends every evening writing stories in her journal or on the computer.
Mr Spinner is a science teacher at Palo Alto Elementary school. He is in charge of 5th grader Science. He has been teaching Science for 10 years and is very interested in integrating IT into his Science lessons. Specifically, the problems he encountered for conducting Science Experiments for his students are: (1) scheduling for lab time (not enough labs to go around) (2) purchase of equipments (3) breakdowns of equipments (4) arranging makeup time for students who missed the practical.
Mr Spinner is preparing a paper towel computer simulation for his class today. Students will go to the computer lab and do the simulated experiment individually. They will need to fill out their electronic notebooks where they’re reminded to write down the steps they conducted the experiment, answer some yes/no questions and provide a description on how did they know which towel holds most/ least water as well as their thoughts on the “wetness” of the PT.
Problem: Find out which PT can hold, soak up or absorb the most/least water
Sally’s Activity Scenario—“Remaining Water in Beaker” approach.
Step 1: Read instructions, approach workbench and planning
(real life) Sally received the instructions and the 4-page handouts (notebook) from Mr Spinner. She approached the table where all the materials were displayed neatly. She quickly read through the instructions and at the same time checking the displayed materials. She wasn’t sure how to use all the materials on the table (the scale looked too much like “science”), but an approach to the problem without the scale seemed obvious.
(computer simulation) Sally logged in to “PT simulation” by clicking on the “PT” icon at the desktop and entering her name and password. The window opened and she sees all the tools and objects neatly displayed on the shelf (or the rear of the table)
Below the workbench, a notebook is opened with instructions. Sally reads through the instructions. When she has finished reading the introductory instructions, she clicks the “next” tab and the next notebook page appears, with some questions and space to answer the questions. The notebook remains below the table for quick reference.
While reading the instructions, Sally checked on the displayed materials by moving the cursors over them. He found that all are draggable and small pop up instructions telling him what are the tools and how to move them.
She thought a solution to the problem would be to compare how much water is left behind in a beaker after soaking a paper towel in it.
Step 2: Fill each beaker
(real life) Sally carefully filled each of 3 beakers with the same amount of water, noting the levels (markings on the beaker) in her notebook.
(computer simulation) Sally drags a beaker forward. When she “reaches” with her mouse cursor for the pitcher, a roll-over message says, “drag the pitcher to the workbench to pour water”. She drags the “endless pitcher of water” forward and moves it next to the beaker. When the objects touch, the pitcher tilts 90 degrees toward the beaker, and the beaker begins to “fill” with water. (The amount of fill depends on the time duration of the intersection of beaker and pitcher).
She pulls the pitcher away, and the filling stops. She sets the beaker aside and drags another beaker forward, next to the filled beaker. She brings the pitcher next to beaker #2 and it begins to fill. When Beaker #2 appears to be filled to the same level, she pulls the pitcher away. She repeats this for beaker #3. She drags the beaker back to the shelf (or rear of the table) to get it out of the way.
Step 3: Tear off a sheet of paper towel
(real life) She followed the dotted line and tore a sheet from roll A (the default size from roll A)
(computer simulation) Sally moves the cursor over PtrollA and a roll over message says “click and drag to tear off a piece of PTA”. She clicks and drags a piece of PT off of the roll (the roll itself does not move)
Step 4: Dunk the PT into beaker of water
(real life) Sally dunks PT(a) into Beaker(1) slowly, so as to not spill the water.
(computer simulation) Sally drags PT onto the top of Beaker #1. When the towel touches the beaker, a dialogue box pops up asking if he wants to (1) “totally dunk, all at once?” (2) “dip a corner of the PT”. She selects “totally dunk it”. The towel’s color changes quickly. (If enough water is in the beaker, the towel becomes completely dark, and the change in towel color stop – the beaker water level decreases according to the properties of PTa; if the beaker contains insufficient water, the towel changes color somewhat and stops, leaving no water in the beaker)
Step 5: Pulled out the wet PT and let it drip
(real life) Sally made sure the PT was completely soaked in the beaker. She carefully pulled it out using two fingers and allowed the excess to drip back into the beaker. She set the towel on the table in case she needed it for comparison.
(computer simulation) Sally raises the towel off of the top of the beaker. A few drops of water drip off of the towel. The towel remains dark colored, indicating it is still fully saturated. (if the beaker was insufficiently full and the towel was not saturated, then the towel does not shed any drips when it is lifted off of the beaker). She slides beaker #1 (with its remaining water) over to the left (still in the foreground).
She makes a note in her notebook that beaker #1, now positioned on the left of her screen, was dunked with Towel A.
Step 6: Repeat steps 3-5 for rolls B and C
(real life and computer simulation) (She didn’t care if the sizes of the PT from roll A, B or C are the same or not)
Step 7: Compare the height of the water in the beakers
(real life) Sally compared the height of the water in the beakers (she didn’t pay much attention to the meaning of the numbers on the side of the beaker). She recorded the results and answered the questions as well as described in the notebook.
(computer simulation) Sally lines up all the beakers next to each other in the foreground. She ignores the markings on the side of the beakers). She compares the relative heights of the beakers.
Step 9: Complete the experiment
(real life) Satisfied with her result, she completed her notebook and submitted it to Mr Spinner. She did not replicate the experiment. She spent her extra time writing a new story about a mad-scientist named Jenny….
(computer simulation) Satisfied that she knows the answer, she fills in her notebook (answers all the prompts) but does not replicate the experiment. She spends the rest of her time on Word for Windows typing the ongoing saga of the mad-scientist named Jenny, who is now stuck in a virtual simulation and looking desperately for a way out…