Programming & storytelling

Abstract

The focus of this paper is to investigate how writing computer programs can help children develop their storytelling and creative writing abilities. The process of writing a program---coding---has long been considered only in terms of computer science, but such coding is also reflective of the imaginative and narrative elements of fiction writing workshops. Writing to program can also serve as programming to write, in which a child learns the importance of sequence, structure, and clarity of expression---three aspects characteristic of effective coding and good storytelling alike. While there have been efforts examining how learning to write code can be facilitated by storytelling, there has been little exploration as to how such creative coding can also be directed to teach students about the narrative and storytelling process. Using the introductory programming language Scratch, this paper explores the potential of having children create their own digital stories with the software and how the narrative structure of these stories offers kids the opportunity to better understand the process of expanding an idea into the arc of a story.