Embodying cognitive processes in storytelling interfaces for children

Abstract

This paper explores the effects of story creation interfaces for children that embody different types of psychologically-grounded cognitive approaches. Two versions of a story creation interface for children were created: one leads the user to focus on a macro-level structure of their story before furnishing scene details, while the other leads the user to focus initially on individual scene details before moving on to determine the macro-level structure of the story. A study was conducted to compare the use of the two types of story creation interfaces by children between the ages of 7 and 12. Findings indicate that different cognitive models can have differing effects on children’s storytelling. In our case, a micro-first model resulted both in greater ease of use as measured by flow and usability, and in richer stories produced.