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

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.