Using Storytelling to Make
Computer Programming
Attractive to Middle School
Girls
Caitlin Kelleher
School of Computer Science
Carnegie Mellon University
www.alice.org
Computer Science is Everywhere
• Medicine: Identifying new potential
medications
• Science: Building robots to explore Mars
• Business: Creating new communications
networks
• Education: Teaching our children to read
one on one
• Art History: Revealing lost paintings
The Shrinking CS pool
Why do we need to motivate
girls to study CS?
1950s: Computers are powerful
calculators
2000s: Computing Technology
Part of Everyday Life
A Pragmatic Need for Diversity
• As human beings, we are best at
understanding our own needs. We
need to include a representative
sample of our population in the
design of new technologies.
• In the US, women are the largest
underrepresented group
Critical Time: Middle School
• Middle school is
the time during
which many girls
decide that math
and science is not
for them.
http://www.eric.ed.gov/resources/ericreview/vol6no2/encourage.html
“OK, so I can make the bunny
move around, but why would I
want to?”
Approach
Present programming as a
means to the end of storytelling.
Why storytelling?
• Girls can come up with a story idea.
• Stories provide a graceful introduction to a
variety of programming concepts
• Stories provide opportunities for self-
expression
• Stories can be readily appreciated by non-
programming friends and family
Developing Storytelling Alice
Formative Evaluation:
Observe middle school Design and Implement:
girls (and some boys) Improve Alice
creating stories in Alice
Subjects: Formative Evaluation
• ~ 120 Girl Scouts
from within 1.5
hours of
Pittsburgh
• ~ 30 Local home-
schooled kids
• ~ 60 Campers at
STEM camps
Over 18 months, ~15 iterations
Formative Evaluation:
Observe middle school Design and Implement:
girls (and some boys) Improve Alice
creating stories in Alice
Workshop Process
• Create a storyboard
• Complete the Storytelling Alice tutorial
• Build story in version of Storytelling Alice
3-Step Storyboarding
• DVD box description
• Setting, action, purpose for each scene.
• 6-9 drawn frames with textual descriptions
per scene.
Motivation for Programming
Constructs
• Sequences – 100%
• Subroutines (through the need for multiple
scenes) – 87%
• Methods with parameters (through
character methods) – 52%
• Loops – 48%
Making girls’ stories attainable
goals.
Multiple Scenes
Change the basic animations to
match what kids want to create
Storytelling Alice: Generic Alice:
• Say, think • Move
• Play sound • Turn
• Walk to, walk offscreen, walk • Roll
• Move • Resize
• Sit On, Lie on • Play Sound
• Kneel • Move to
• Move toward, Move away from
• Fall Down
• Orient to
• Stand Up
• Turn to Face, point at
• Straighten • Set point of view to
• Look at, look • Set Pose
• Turn to face, Turn away from • Stand up
• Turn • Move at speed, turn at speed, roll at
• Touch speed
• Keep Touching • Constrain to face, Constrain to point
at
Helping girls find story ideas.
Seeding Stories
Harold T. Wireton.crazy go nuts
Make the gallery a source of
inspiration
Nina.do ninja move Lunch Lady.scold
1. Caricatured Characters
2. Animations that require explanation
Introducing girls to Alice through
creating stories.
Before: After:
To open the method “bunny
shushes the phone,” click on the
edit button next to its tile.
Storytelling Alice Demo
Subjects: Summative Evaluation
• 88 Girl Scouts
from within 1.5
hours of
Pittsburgh (so
far)
Evaluating Storytelling Alice vs.
Generic Alice
Control Group:
Experimental Group:
Tutorial Tutorial
Build something to show 2 hrs, 15 min
Build something to show
in Story-Alice in Non-Story-Alice
Take programming quiz and attitude survey
Try Non-Story Alice Try Story-Alice 30 min
Choose Story or Non-Story Alice to take home
Show a world to everyone
Evaluating Story-Alice vs. Regular
Alice Group:
Control
Experimental Group:
Tutorial Tutorial
Build something to show 2 hrs, 15 min
1 Build something to show
in Story-Alice in Non-Story-Alice
Take programming quiz and attitude survey
Try Non-Story Alice Try Story-Alice 30 min
Choose Story or Non-Story Alice to take home
Show a world to everyone
Layout vs. Programming
Alice Activity
Activity Version % Time p-value
Scene Storytelling 22.3% p < 0.001
Layout
Generic 40.8%
Program Storytelling 48.3% p < 0.001
Editing
Generic 34%
Running Storytelling 29.3% p = 0.046
Program
Generic 25.1%
Generic Alice Activity
Generic Alice: Scene Layout vs. Program Editing
100
90
80
% Time - Editing Program
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
% Tim e - Scene Layout
Storytelling Alice Activity
Storytelling Alice: Scene Layout vs. Program Editing
100
90
80
% Time - Editing Program
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
% Tim e - Scene Layout
Evaluating Story-Alice vs. Regular
Alice Group:
Control
Experimental Group:
Tutorial Tutorial
Build something to show 2 hrs, 15 min
Build something to show
in Story-Alice in Non-Story-Alice
2 Take programming quiz and attitude survey
Try Non-Story Alice Try Story-Alice 30 min
Choose Story or Non-Story Alice to take home
Show a world to everyone
Storytelling doesn’t hurt learning
% correct on
programming quiz
Story Alice 62%
Non-story Alice 57%
p = 0.391
Attitudes for both groups are similar
Attitude score
Story Alice 11.8
Non-story Alice 10.9
p = 0.326
More interest in a future Alice class
Definitely Yes
p = 0.02
Story
Probably Yes
Non-Story
Maybe no, Maybe yes
Probably Not
Definitely Not
Evaluating Story-Alice vs. Regular
Alice Group:
Control
Experimental Group:
Tutorial Tutorial
Build something to show 2 hrs, 15 min
Build something to show
in Story-Alice in Non-Story-Alice
Take programming quiz and attitude survey
Try Non-Story Alice Try Story-Alice 30 min
3 Choose Story or Non-Story Alice to take home
Show a world to everyone
Girls are more likely to choose the
story version
% of girls who % of girls who
choose their choose their
first Alice second
Story-Alice 86% (story) 14% (non-story)
Non-Story 24% (non- 73% (story)
Alice story)
p < 0.001
Evaluating Story-Alice vs. Regular
Alice Group:
Control
Experimental Group:
Tutorial Tutorial
Build something to show 2 hrs, 15 min
Build something to show
in Story-Alice in Non-Story-Alice
Take programming quiz and attitude survey
Try Non-Story Alice Try Story-Alice 30 min
Choose Story or Non-Story Alice to take home
4 Show a world to everyone
Showing a story is appealing
2% story kids show
their non-story world
instead of their story world
34% non-story kids
show their story world
instead of their non-story
world
p < 0.001
Users of the storytelling version
show more evidence of
engagement/motivation
% of girls who sneak
extra time to work on
their Alice worlds
Story-Alice 50%
Non-Story Alice 17%
p = 0.001
The Future: Alice v3.0
• Now beginning design and development
• Will dump “real” Java and a graceful path
• Will be driven by findings about storytelling,
and will have high quality characters and
animations.
• Will be targeted (possible multiple
configurations/flavors) at everyone from 5th
grade to college freshmen.
Alice: Making it Easy (and
Fun!) to Learn to Program
Questions?
Caitlin Kelleher
www.alice.org