SCAFFOLDING THE STORY CREATION PROCESS
M. Hall, L. Hall, J. Hodgson, C. Hume and L. Humphries
Department of Computing, Engineering and Technology, University of Sunderland, St. Peters Way, Sunderland, U.K.
Keywords: Comic Books, Technology, Education, Prototyping.
Abstract: Comic books provide an appropriate and structured context for education and personal or peer reflection. In
this paper we discuss the benefits of comic books and technology in a pedagogical context, including the
mechanism of scaffolding and how this interaction impacts upon the child's environment. Our studies into
the educational benefits of comic books have lead to the development of an interactive comic book
application. The application is being developed for the purpose of narrative inquiry through the creation and
completion of a story scaffold. The analysis of the data will help evaluate the child’s social and cultural
interaction with the story.
1 INTRODUCTION
In comparison to traditional textual narration, it has
been seen that the process of completing stories
partially defined as comic books or graphical novels
provides an appropriate and structured context for
eliciting affective and reflective thought (West et al.,
2004; Pennington et al., 2011). Comic books have
been been used as an engaging and motivational
learning activity for both adults and children
(Norton, 2003). They are appropriate for the
classroom (McVicker, 2007), encouraging the
development of critical thinking skills (Birisci &
Metin, 2010).
Whilst some research implies that the use of
comics in the classroom is most applicable
specifically to male students with low attainment
levels, there is also some evidence that they can also
be used successfully with high achievers (Sabeti,
2011; Lenters, 2006; McTaggart, 2005; Norton,
2003; Cleaver, 2008). Comics have been used in a
range of educational contexts, from Primary School
through to University level. They have been used in
developing understanding of concepts such as
Business Ethics (Gerde & Foster, 2007), logic in
Computer Science (Cervesato, 2011), science lab
safety (Di Raddo, 2006), collaboratively teaching
English as a Second Language (Sachs et al., 2003)
and teacher education (Herbst et al., 2011).
There is wide use of technology enhanced
learning, with applications ranging from the use of
multimedia through to mobile devices (Stelzer et al.,
2008; Ruchter et al., 2010). The use of technology
has been found to be of particular benefit in
supporting and developing literacy skills through the
use of new practices (Burnett et al., 2006). Such
practices inclue peer-based learning activities such
as groups of children sending emails in which each
participant adds another line of the story to build up
a collaboratively written narrative (Figa, 2007); and
the use of PowerPoint in allowing the choice of
appropriate images and text to help the learner to
consider their audience (Abas & Zaman, 2010;
Robin, 2008).
The use of comics as a pedagogical instrument
removes some of the typical workload involved in
story creation. It allows users to draw upon familiar
presentation and scene structuring paradigms learned
from prior experiences with comics, whilst having a
positive impact on motivation (Bitz, 2008; Pelton et
al., 2007). Furthermore, the intuitive nature of the
comic book style makes it easy to learn for those
that lack experience with the medium. Illustrated
texts offer a unique perception of the narrative
provided to the reader and have been shown to
create a more empathic sense, allowing more
evaluative and critical responses (Moschovaki &
Meadows, 2005; Williams, 2008).
The popularity of community driven comic
creation by amateurs on the web has increased in
recent years (Lopes et al., 2009). Sites such as
Toondoo invite educators to create class accounts
which allows for the sharing and peer review of
completed stories. Such websites allow users to
create simple narratives with predefined content, and
229
Hall M., Hall L., Hodgson J., Hume C. and Humphries L..
SCAFFOLDING THE STORY CREATION PROCESS.
DOI: 10.5220/0003927302290234
In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU-2012), pages 229-234
ISBN: 978-989-8565-06-8
Copyright
c
2012 SCITEPRESS (Science and Technology Publications, Lda.)
also allow users to suggest the next stage in the story
(Williams & Barry, 2005) in a linear manner.
Research by Jong (2009) found that in tasks in
which information is presented as non-linear text
(specifically hyper-link connected text) the increased
cognitive load of navigating the non-linear structure
reduced user retention. This raises concerns about
the possible negative impact of making a scenario
non-linear. However, as Jong’s work focused on
information with no narrative or temporal
progression it isn’t clear if it is entirely applicable. It
does seem to suggest that non-linearity should be
applied with caution.
The aim of the interactive comic book
application described in this paper is to draw upon
the advantages of comic books in a pedagogical
context. The interactive comic book application
provides a scaffold around which users can create a
completed story based upon their own experiences
and understanding of the subject matter. This is
portrayed within the comic in a constructive manner,
and later allows self- and peer-reflection upon that
content. Children’s social interaction with artifacts
are culturally mediated (Vygotsky, 1978) and
although Vygotsky never used the term scaffolding,
the use of comic narratives as a scaffold overcomes
criticisms of the Vygotskian approach that it does
not take into account a child’s cognitive
development.
The comic book provides a medium that is
widely used and accessible to all children. Comics
can match tasks to the child’s zone of proximal
development, bridging the gap between what the
child can do without help and what they can do with
help. With this application, the scaffold is provided
as a scene graph: a conceptual node graph that
defines all possible scenes and the choices that must
be made to move between these scenes. Users
simultaneously interact with this scene graph node-
by-node, defining a specific scenario through that
graph by the choices they make during the
interaction; and fill in content to complete the story
(for example by writing dialog or narration entries).
2 PEDAGOGICAL CONTEXT
In order to give the scenario content a theoretically
valid basis the groups of characters in the scenario
and its plot were designed to reflect aspects of the
cultural model proposed by Hofstede (Hofstede,
2010). The Hofstede model defines all cultures as a
combination of five Cultural Dimensions: Power
Distance, Identity, Gender, Uncertainty, and Virtue.
The use of these cultural dimensions is the basis
for assessing the effectiveness of the comic as a
pedagogical tool. To achieve this users were given a
separate questionnaire instrument, the Inter-group
Anxiety Scale (Stephan & Finlay, 1999) to measure
their level of inter-group cultural sensitivity and
empathy directly. The IAS is a validated
psychometric test that examines children’s
disposition toward out-groups, formalized as a level
of anxiety.
The users were also asked to complete an
‘interactive’ comic. The content the users choose to
add to the scenario, in response the inter-group
situations presented in the story, would in effect be
an indirect measure of the user’s inter-group
sensitivity and empathy. For example, the way the
user chooses to have a character respond verbally to
a situation or how they portray the character’s state
of mind reflect the user’s inter-group sensitivity. By
comparing the direct and indirect measures the
efficacy of the comic book could be established.
Further the general level of engagement with the
process was assessed qualitatively.
A single cultural dimension was selected to
simplify the task of implementing a scenario based
on Hofsede’s cultural dimensions. The selected
dimension was Uncertainty Avoidance. This was
incorporated into a story, entitled CampFire, which
involves two groups who each manifest an extreme
of the uncertainty avoidance dimension. One group
focuses very much on the rules of play and
micromanaging each other. The other focuses on a
more carefree attitude where the rules mattered and
group dynamics were important, but with more
flexibility in how the game was played.
3 DEVELOPMENTAL STUDIES
Building on evidence in literature, that the use of
comic books in a pedagogical context is itself
effective, a preliminary study was conducted in
order to validate the approach as a means to
facilitate reflection on inter-group relations. For this
study an ‘interactive’ comic book was used, which
can be seen as a low-fidelity prototype of the final
application, to establish that a comic book could
elicit valid pedagogical impact.
3.1 Initial Study
The pilot study involved 2 groups of children aged
9-10. The children were given the comic book along
side various activity sheets (containing the
questionnaire instruments). The activity sheets were
themed in the style of a childrens’ activity magazine
CSEDU2012-4thInternationalConferenceonComputerSupportedEducation
230
(rather than as sterile research instruments) and
included a variety of activities based upon the
subject matter of the narrative portrayed. The
activity that was of particular importance to the
piloting of the comic book was the inclusion of the
Inter-group Anxiety Scale (IAS).
3.1.1 Pilot One
The test group (20) received an interactive version
of the CampFire comic in which speech bubbles and
thought bubbles in the last pages of the comic were
left blank. The comic was bound together with the
IAS questionnaire and all the other activity sheets as
a single workbook. A front cover and contents page
were added and the documents were styled in a way
that resembled a comic book annual.
3.1.2 Results
Results from the pilot study confirmed the comic
book approach to be an effective means to engage
children in inter-group reflection, and also an
enjoyable and engaging experience for the children.
When compared, the results of the two groups
showed that the test group was able to comprehend
the storyline of CampFire and add relevant and
meaningful content to the storyline.
Further, the completion rate for the IAS in the
test group was 85% compared to 10% of the IAS
from the control group (all aspects of the workbook
were intentionally optional so that level of
engagement could be estimated). Qualitatively, the
test group worked through and completed all
activities contained in the annual requesting less
help, where as the children in the control group
struggled more with the activities.
In addition the pilot also provided results that
had not been anticipated. The children provided
more content than was expected or requested of
them. For example, in both versions of the CampFire
comic some of the faces of the characters were left
blank, this was a design decision intended to
enhance the minimalist look of the CampFire comic.
In both groups the children drew in the missing faces
to show emotions that were appropriate to the
current scene.
3.2 Narrative Mode Study
In this experiment we aimed to identify whether
children could complete a story based upon a story
abstract concept and what the baseline for such an
abstract story is. The problem is how to define a
‘story’ to an extent that participants have enough
information to build a story but leave enough out of
the definition such that the participants are being
creative and not just adding to a predefined story.
3.2.1 Pilot Two
Users were put into groups of five and given a large
sheet of paper on which a nine-tile empty comic
strip was printed. The groups’ task was to fill in
these squares with illustrations, speech bubbles and
thought bubbles (see Figure 1). The ‘abstract story’
was defined by considering a generic story arch
about two friends who fall out, experience some
important incident and then become friends again.
This was defined and presented to the participants
by, taking each box as a scene, specifying what the
purpose of that box (or scene) is with respect to the
story. For example, the purpose of the first box is ‘to
introduce the lead character.’ Each of the nine boxes
was given such a purpose, leaving the task of turning
these abstract scenes into a specific story to the
participants.
Figure 1: Shows a section from one of the large comics.
The groups were encouraged to discuss and
create a plan of what they would create. To do this
they were given a small version of the empty boxes
sheet onto which they could write short notes about
what they would put in their final story. Once the
plan was complete the groups were left to self-
organise and complete the larger version comic in
their groups.
3.2.2 Results
The results of the second pilot showed that the
children found no difficulty in the task of
completing an abstract storyline and grasped the
concept of developing a story from the scaffold
provided with ease. Each of the groups developed
entirely unique storylines with coherent narratives
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231
that depicted a variety of experiences on subjects
ranging from sport to damaging the environment to
Lady Gaga. The children were so highly engaged
and enjoying the session that they complained when
it was over. In the design of their comics the
children also included conventional comic book
visuals such as large red letters to visually express
angry voices, without being prompted or advised to
do so, supporting the principle that comic book are a
natural and familiar environment for children.
4 THE INTERACTIVE COMIC
BOOK APPLICATION
For the purposes of clarity while describing the
application it is necessary to define some key
concepts. Familiar terminology will be used, but
used in a way that is specific to this paper. The first
concept is that of a scene graph: a network graph in
which each node represents a scene and edges
represent choices. This graph defines all possible
scenes and choices available to the user and as such
all possible scenarios, in a sense this could be said to
encapsulate a meta-scenario. We will use the word
scenario to refer to precisely one valid and complete
path through the scene graph. The word narrative
will be used to refer specifically to the content
generated by the user (although the content the user
provides isn’t necessarily strictly narrative this word
does seem to summarise roughly what the user
creates.) The scenario graph provides the scaffold;
the user assembles a scenario and ‘fills in the gaps’
with narrative. The interactive comic book
application must provide two distinct but related
functionalities to the two user groups, for easy
distinction the user groups will be referred to as the
developers and the users. The developer will use the
application to construct an underlying scene graph.
This scaffold will define the structure of the story
and the form of the user interaction and will
encapsulate whatever meta-scenario the developer
wishes to deliver. The user will be presented with an
interface with which to navigate through the scene
graph, thereby defining a scenario, and adding a
narrative to that scenario. Data capture will be used
such that the result is a single defined scenario and a
narrative dataset.
4.1 Functional Requirements for
Developers
A requirement for the developers is an interface into
which the non-linear plot nodes of the scene graph
are defined. In the construction of each plot node the
developer of the scene graph can include an image,
informative text and a text box for data entry. These
items can be used individually or combined,
depending on the needs of the scene graph being
developed. The software must present these nodes to
the user as a panel from a comic book, and include
whichever elements the developer has chosen to
include. Additionally, functionality is required that
will allow the developer to link plot nodes to one
another to provide the branching, non-linear basis of
the story which will be formed by the user.
4.2 Functional Requirements for Users
The user of the application will build upon the
scaffold provided by the developers. The first
requirement is a method of presenting to the users
the contents of the scene graph designed by the
developers prior to the users interaction. An
interface is required to display the content of each
plot node as a cell, showing the images, text and an
input area for the user to type in the narrative
content. Secondly, once the user has completed one
cell/plot node they must choose what happens next,
constrained by options defined by the developers.
4.3 The Software
The application at its most basic level is a story node
viewer; Figure 2 shows how the user interface is
organized.
Figure 2: The application layout.
The scene graph, which is defined in an XML
file and loaded at runtime, is essentially a list of
story nodes. The following example code gives an
example of a scene graph definition in which the
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user is presented with the beginning of the story
“Jack and Jill” and asked to fill in a missing word.
<SceneGraph title="Jack and Jill"
identifier="001">
<nodes>
<StoryNode identifier="001">
<target>002</target>
<image>image.jpg</image>
<content>1) Jack and Jill went up the
hill to fetch a ____ of water.</content>
<text-input>What did Jack and Jill go
to fetch?</text-input>
<nav-options />
</StoryNode>
</nodes>
</SceneGraph>
The possible navigation routes through the story
nodes are defined using two methods. Firstly, each
node has a target attribute that either points to
another node or points to the ‘end’ (designating it a
terminating node). Secondly, each node can have up
to six navigation option child-nodes, each of which
targets a node. The user interface converts these
XML elements into interaction components. The
‘target’ attribute is presented as a next button and the
navigation options are presented as a set of option
buttons. Pressing next or one of the options performs
a data capture of the current node, moves the view to
the appropriate node and refreshes the view.
In the current incarnation of the software the
content of a story node is very basic, containing text
and a reference to an image representing the scene.
As the image can contain whatever the developers
would like to present and the text prompt for text
input can be anything, the distinction between the
aspects of the ‘story’ that the developers define and
the aspects that the user create is flexible. For
example the developers could decide to have the
users input dialog and put no dialog in the images, or
they could have lots of dialog in the images and
have the user write narrative prompts. This
flexibility, at this stage of development, is useful as
it allows exploration of whatever story constructs
that might be applicable for the audience with a
complicated authoring process. Future versions of
the application will include a more integrated
authoring user interface. This will seek to avoid an
overly complicated scenario definition convention as
this would not only be difficult to develop but is
likely to make user interaction more problematic.
4.4 Data Capture
Data capture is entirely abstracted from scenario
structure. When the user moves to another node, the
current node is taken to be complete and anything
the user inputted is captured. A user data object is
created and stored in an XML file. This file takes
note of the user’s identity and references the
scenario to which this data applies. By taking this
data file and combining it with the scenario
definition for that file the scenario the user created
can be reconstructed.
While capturing the user inputs other aspects of
the user interaction are recorded. The user data
mentioned above only captures the final path the
user takes through the scene graph, it doesn’t
capture, for instance, if the user backs up and
follows another route. To solve this problem the
application keeps a ‘complete’ history that captures
user data for each node but does so for every node
the user passes through every time they pass through
it, creating an arbitrarily large list of user data
objects. For analysis purposes some other aspects of
the user’s interaction are captured. The length of
time the user spends on each node and the number of
edits the user makes to the text input box are
recorded. These are envisaged as a way to get some
insight into whether some nodes get more attention
than others.
4.5 Future Development
The current version of the application is a functional
prototype. It delivers what was envisaged as its
primary functionality: presentation and data
gathering. As such, it could be used as a final
application, however, its main purpose so far has
been for pilot testing.
We hope to improve the usability and
functionality of the application by making it a web-
based server side application. This would make it
platform independent, allowing a unified login
system and centralizing the data gathering methods.
This would also side-step the issue of access rights
on user machines since data can be gathered by the
server hosting the application rather than being
‘saved’ by the client machine.
5 CONCLUSIONS
In all our experiments children fully engaged with
the process of completing or creating the narrative of
a comic book, with pedagogically meaningful
results. The processes that have lead to the creation
of the application follow from what children have,
sometimes unexpectedly, produced within these
experiments. They have shown that it is possible to
create an engaging activity that not only promotes
literacy and literary skills in the creation of a
narrative, but also allows for the development of
concepts from other subject areas, in this specific
case inter-group sensitivity, in both individual and
collaborative contexts.
SCAFFOLDINGTHESTORYCREATIONPROCESS
233
In this paper we detailed the on-going
development of an interactive comic book
application for the scaffolding and creation of
nonlinear stories. We have shown how the use of
comic books and technology are beneficial to
children’s learning experiences. We also described
two pilot studies in which we investigated an
innovative approach to story creation through the
use of comic book styled instruments.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was partially supported by European
Community (EC) and is currently funded by the
ECUTE project (ICT-5-4.2-257666). The authors are
solely responsible for the content of this publication.
It does not represent the opinion of the EC, and the
EC is not responsible for any use that might be made
of data appearing therein.
We would also like to thank the staff and pupils
of St Mary’s R.C. and Hudson Road primary
schools, Sunderland, UK for taking part in the
studies.
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