Exploring magic cottage: a virtual reality environment for stimulating children's imaginative writing

Patera, M; Draper, S; Naef, M

Abstract

This paper presents an exploratory study that created a Virtual Reality Environment (VRE) to stimulate
motivation and creativity in imaginative writing at primary school level. The main aim of the study was to
investigate if an interactive, semi-immersive Virtual Reality (VR) world could increase motivation and
stimulate pupils’ imagination in the context of a writing task that is part of normal school practice and of the
national curriculum. The study was defined in close collaboration with the head teachers and teachers of two
Scottish primary schools so that the implementation of the VRE fitted the needs of the curriculum. The impact
of the VRE on the educational activity was evaluated through a formal assessment of the stories by an
independent marker, quantitative and qualitative analysis of the stories, and observations and interviews with
the teachers. This paper provides a description of the graphical environment and the technology used in the
trials, presents our method, results, and experiences. It is suggested that to interpret the observations, and
make further progress in both research and practice, it may be important to identify and support three subskills
of "imaginative writing" separately: creative imagination, recalling and structuring what to say, and language
skills.

Citation

Patera, M., Draper, S., & Naef, M. (2008). Exploring magic cottage: a virtual reality environment for stimulating children's imaginative writing. Interactive Learning Environments, 16(3), 245-263. https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820802114093

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2008
• Deposit Date: Oct 24, 2011
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 24, 2011
• Journal: Interactive Learning Environments
• Print ISSN: 1049-4820
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 16
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 245-263
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820802114093
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10494820802114093
• Related Public URLs: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/citedby/10.1080/10494820802114093