Storytelling: Tool for Creative Problem Solving

My next faculty workshop at LynchburgCollege later in October will be to demo Composer Pro from Demibooks, the developers of Composer Studio that I used with my Governor's School Media Production class in July.  I stumbled upon this excellent blog article from Second Story about the power of story to solve complex problems. It's a very timely concept in relationship to Composer Pro. It is a production tool for creating interactive media and a perfect vehicle for telling complex (or simple) stories that can be shared on iPads.

In the blog article Laura Allcorn, Second Story Senior Content Strategist, discusses a storytelling concept known as Critical Design from Dunne & Raby at the Royal College of Art. The purpose is to create something that makes people think and challenges old ideas. They do this with both fiction and humor. Laura includes this quote from Jonathan Gotschall's The Storytelling Animal about the power of fiction;

Fiction seems to be more effective at changing beliefs than nonfiction, which is designed to persuade through argument and evidence. Studies show that when we read non-fiction, we read with our shields up. We are critical and skeptical. But when we are absorbed in a story, we drop our intellectual guard. We are moved emotionally, and this seems to make us rubbery and easy to shape. 

Allcorn also cited the thoughts of comedian Chris Bliss about humor to break down barriers. Here is his TedTalk Comedy in Translation.

This in mind, I think of one of my favorite apps, Sock Puppets. I would like to challenge students to explore possible solutions to serious problems with the iPad app Sock Puppets. Remember folks, the target audience for my work is young children and I often proudly describe myself as a mental age of 5. As you may be able to guess, Sock Puppets is a storytelling app in which young user select images of sock puppets and manipulate them to tell a story. Amazingly, as the user speaks, the sock puppets lip sync the speakers voice. This happens whenever the app is open and then can be recorded and played back. Hence a story is told, a play performed with puppets realistically speaking their dialogue. It's poetry in motion. And funny too.

Sock Puppets playhouse, one of many props and sets of characters

If you are in Central Virginia, mark you calendar:  Saturday, November 2 from 8:30 am until 1 pm iSchool Initiative Emily Wolfe and other guests will be at Lynchburg College to explore Contemporary Technology in Today's Classroom. Free and open to the public. Come with your students to learn how iSchool Initiative is challenging educational institutions to use all tools available to engage students.

Kristin Reiber Harris
my new app Duck Takes A Ride: An Art Story is now available in the App Store.
It is an interactive animated narrative for preschool children illustrated with 
ancient Chinese and Egyptian sculpture from major museum collections.