The Narrative Theatre:A Creativity Enhancement

Environment

James C. Lester

Department of Computer Science

North Carolina State University

From Intelligent Tutoring Systems to Creativity Support Narrative-centered learning

Actively participate in “story-centric” problem-solving activities

Immersed in captivating, highly tailored narratives

Revolve around Believable characters Compelling virtual worlds Rich stories

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Narrative-Centered Creativity

Narrative an ideal laboratory for studying creativity

Centrality of multiple representations Multiple representations in creativity for

narrative generation: Uni-modal: Linguistic Multi-modal: Animated stories, spoken

character dialogue, narration

Co-Constructive Creativity Enhancement

Environment Student

Manipulative actions

(Revised) CreativityArtifact

Artifact Model

What are the beliefs, preferences,

goals, and plans of the student?

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Learning Environment Foundation: Crystal Island

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Crystal Island

Rich, 3D environment implemented in Valve Software’s SourceTM Engine (HalfLife2)

8th grade microbiology curriculum

Science mystery with the student playing the role of detective

Crystal Island Storyworld

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5

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Crystal Island Storyworld9

Narrative Theatre Creativity Cycle

Narrative Understanding

Sentential Analysis

Discourse Analysis

Narrative Interpretation

Plot Elements

World Events

Character Behaviors

Narrative Constraints

Narrative Generation

Camera Planning

Action Interpreter

Dialogue Generation

Character Controller

Student

Written Narrative

Written Narrative

3D Narrative

Narrative Model

Setting Character Plot

Narrative Corpus Collection

Sample Story #1

Sample Story #2

Sample Story #3

Hypotheses

Narrative Theatre will significantly (and positively) impact

Students’ ability to utilize creative process (preparation, incubation, illumination, verification)

Students’ metacognitive awareness of creativity process

Students’ perception of the creative process

Open Questions

All of them