Communication and cooperation are fundamental skills for the social and cognitive development of children. From a very young age they need to learn how to engage in effective communication in order to share knowledge and opinions, and by listening to their peers and negotiate their ideas, they set the basis for collaboration to take place. This thesis aims to explore new ways to support children's communicative and cooperative skills. To reach its objective this research takes inspiration from the world of analog and computer games and combines their playful nature with an educational purpose. In addition, to provide a context for the gaming experience and engage children, a popular generative AI tool is employed to build a narrative around the main gameplay mechanics. The combination of these elements inspired the design and development of QuesTale, a cooperative game for children with AI-Generated interactive stories. This thesis presents the tool from its ideation to its implementation. An exploratory study was conducted to assess QuesTale. Five experts in the field of children's education tested the application and were subsequently interviewed on their experience. The results of the study positively evaluate the application, highlighting its potential as a tool to support children's communication and cooperation, applicable both to school's activity and in therapy. Additionally, it underlined the need for a further division of the age range of the target users into two groups, 6-7 and 8-11 years old, that would be able to utilize the application with different degrees of autonomy. Finally, the limitations encountered and a number of proposals for future improvements are presented.
La comunicazione e la cooperazione sono competenze fondamentali per lo sviluppo sociale e cognitivo dei bambini. Fin dalla tenera età, essi devono imparare a comunicare in modo efficace per condividere conoscenze e opinioni, e attraverso l’ascolto dei loro coetanei e la negoziazione delle proprie idee, pongono le basi per una possibile collaborazione. Questa tesi si propone di esplorare nuove modalità per supportare le competenze comunicative e cooperative dei bambini. Per raggiungere tale obiettivo, la ricerca qui presentata trae ispirazione dal mondo dei giochi analogici e digitali, combinando la loro natura ludica con una finalità educativa. Inoltre, per fornire un contesto all’esperienza di gioco e favorire il coinvolgimento dei bambini, viene impiegato un popolare strumento di intelligenza artificiale generativa per costruire una narrazione attorno alle principali meccaniche di gioco. La combinazione di questi elementi ha ispirato la progettazione e lo sviluppo di QuesTale, un gioco cooperativo per bambini basato su storie interattive generate dall’IA. Questa tesi presenta l'applicazione dalla sua ideazione alla sua implementazione. Per valutare l'applicazione è stato condotto uno studio esplorativo. Cinque esperti nel campo dell’educazione infantile hanno testato l’applicazione e sono stati successivamente intervistati riguardo alla loro esperienza. I risultati dello studio valutano positivamente l’applicazione, evidenziandone il potenziale come strumento per supportare la comunicazione e la cooperazione dei bambini, applicabile sia nelle attività scolastiche che in terapia. Inoltre, è stata sottolineata la necessità di una ulteriore suddivisione della fascia d’età degli utenti in due gruppi, 6-7 e 8-11 anni, che sarebbero in grado di utilizzare l’applicazione con gradi di autonomia diversi. Infine presentiamo i limiti riscontrati e una serie di proposte per miglioramenti futuri.
QuesTale: supporting children's communication and collaboration skills through gaming with AI-generated interactive stories
Longo, Virginia
2024/2025
Abstract
Communication and cooperation are fundamental skills for the social and cognitive development of children. From a very young age they need to learn how to engage in effective communication in order to share knowledge and opinions, and by listening to their peers and negotiate their ideas, they set the basis for collaboration to take place. This thesis aims to explore new ways to support children's communicative and cooperative skills. To reach its objective this research takes inspiration from the world of analog and computer games and combines their playful nature with an educational purpose. In addition, to provide a context for the gaming experience and engage children, a popular generative AI tool is employed to build a narrative around the main gameplay mechanics. The combination of these elements inspired the design and development of QuesTale, a cooperative game for children with AI-Generated interactive stories. This thesis presents the tool from its ideation to its implementation. An exploratory study was conducted to assess QuesTale. Five experts in the field of children's education tested the application and were subsequently interviewed on their experience. The results of the study positively evaluate the application, highlighting its potential as a tool to support children's communication and cooperation, applicable both to school's activity and in therapy. Additionally, it underlined the need for a further division of the age range of the target users into two groups, 6-7 and 8-11 years old, that would be able to utilize the application with different degrees of autonomy. Finally, the limitations encountered and a number of proposals for future improvements are presented.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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2025_12_Longo_Tesi_01.pdf
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17.47 MB
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17.47 MB | Adobe PDF | Visualizza/Apri |
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2025_12_Longo_ExecutiveSummary_02.pdf
accessibile in internet solo dagli utenti autorizzati
Dimensione
4.34 MB
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Adobe PDF
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4.34 MB | Adobe PDF | Visualizza/Apri |
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/247595