Researching and designing learning environments with

Internet technologyfor children

Alice C. Mello Cavallo, Alva L. Couch, Downing Cless, Marina Bers

Tufts University Arts, Sciences, and Engineering

Departments of Computer Science, Drama and Dance, Child Development.

What is Forum Theater ?

Augusto Boal

Bertolt Brecht

Paulo Freire

What is Virtual Forum Theatre ?

Web-based environment for creating collaborative digital drama.

Digital drama is a multimedia presentation of a dramatic play using digital means, including audio, images, and video.

An open constructionist learning environment, or microworld (Papert, 1990).

A Computer Supported Collaborative Learning -CSCL and multi-user virtual environment – MUVE.

Based on Forum Theater (Boal, 1974).Safe environment in which to play out different

responses to conflict.

Goals of qualitative research

Understand how Internet-based drama learning environments can enhance learning of expressive fluency, argumentation skills and self-confidence in disenfranchised children.

Work with those children to develop their technological fluency through expressive arts, and at the same time help them to develop a critical awareness and a rehearsal for social change.

Research questionsHow does learning take place in this

technology/theater environment with respect to developmental stages?

What are the distinctions between learning in a virtual, Internet based one? How does the technology help this process?

How can we design on-line collaborative environments that are sufficiently open and powerful to facilitate such learning interactions?

Why VFTDisadvantaged children usually do not have the

possibility to communicate or express themselves freely.

This might impact the full development of their argumentation skills and problem solving. They might become shy and apathetic.

VFT can give them one vehicle with which to improve their expressive fluency.

VFT aims to establish an electronic environment of free expression that exploits and builds upon the anonymous characteristics of Internet interactions.

At the same time children can become more acquainted with the technology that might be essential for their future work life.

VFT will allow participants to :

choose pictures from an existing gallery of characters, props and scenery

import pictures of props, scenery and characters

draw props, scenery and characters create and animate own characters video tape the whole play using web-cams modify existing frames of the actions and

dialogsplay the dramatic production on web-browsers

Children physically located in widely separated areas can:

share their experience with others in the same situation,safely elaborate their struggles, pursue points of view and formulate solutions to the same kind of problems that their peers experience in another part of the town, state or country in which they live.

suggest a change in frames of actions via web chat

role-playing and trials of solutions to conflicted and oppressive environments.

propose a new on-line solution to an existing conflict.

interact with peers on the WWW in order to help validate or invalidate the solution.

This allows us study the extent to which this online validation works in aiding children in the process of expressing themselves.

Audience

Target audience for our study is minority children age 10 to 13 : Brazilian, Afro-American and Latino.

Otherwise:Any school age children, especially the

most shy ones. Existing Theater of the Oppressed groups.People who want help with personal issues.

Design Architecturesyncronized audio

dramatic faces/tweeningvideo clips

animation by frames : drawing/ photograph

backdrop images

free-ware drawing tools

Real One Player

free-ware editing video tool

GUI drag&drop interface: story board with time line

SMIL files encrypt sounds/images/text

Images

Audio

Free Software

Implementing in Java

props images

Virtual Forum chat room

Dramatic Faces

GUI Storyboard

Real One playing SMIL

Qualitative MethodsBased on Qualitative Research: Techniques and

procedures for developing grounded theory (Strauss 1998). Utilize the “soft-nosed” positivistic approach (Miles & Huberman, 1994), and ethnographic analyses (Spradley,1980) as needed.

Interview children, survey their peers and parents, videotape workshops with children; create transcripts of their work and computer generated logs of their creation and interactions.

Analyze and interpret their play and how they interact over the Internet when creating it in order to understand their learning progress.

Problems

Do we get IRB approval ?

Do we have enough time to finish the prototype ?

Conclusion

Through this applied research we will create a mini study in order to verify the theoretical background and how the children interact with the prototype.

We expect our qualitative study to show positive and effective results in the learning of expressive arts, engagement and self-confidence through the use of VFT.

We hope to get enough feedback from the children in order to adjust our design and future implementations.