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194 Socially Intelligent Agentsfield notes, evaluation of the stories children produced, computer logs of theactivity on the computers, as well as National Curriculum tests, reading testsand some limited comparison with another year one class working with thesame curriculum. The subsequent analysis looked closely at the quality of thehuman interactions in this classroom as well as the computer interactions andthe stories produced.5. OutcomesWe present a very brief summary of relevant evaluation data below recordedover the academic year from September 1999 to July 2000. There were 23children in this year 1 class (5 & 6 year olds). In particular we examine theissues relating to ambience and interaction. The large screen and the networkaround the octagonal table were used daily for up to five hours/day. The technologywas thoroughly integrated into daily aspects of teaching and learning.The enthusiasm, engagement in and enjoyment of the NIMIS classroom continuedthroughout the year. Children and teachers were highly complimentaryabout the facilities it provided. A typical child’s comment when asked abouthaving the classroom for a year was “because its really nice and people loveit. They always want to play with it all the time...it makes me feel happy andfeels nice.”In the final interviews the teachers remained very pleased with the wholeclassroom and described it as “wonderful”, “a perfect world” and “I wouldn’tbe without it”. Reflecting on the children’s attitude they echoed the children’sfeelings, “they love it...and at the end of the day they love to go there (onthe computers) they still have the same amount of enthusiasm (as at the start)”.The teachers explained how the classroom helped with their teaching, becauseof the flexibility of the large screen and table of small WACOMs and a rangeof software they could integrate the computers very easily into their teachingin a very natural way. The teachers were able to engage the whole class atone moment through the clarity and versatility of the large screen and then usethe network around the octagonal table to motivate and support low attainingpupils. Emotional excitement on the part of the teacher also transmits itself tothe children and draws them into the learning, increasing the interaction andengagement. A strong sense emerges from the final interviews of both teachersand children that a good helping atmosphere was present in the class. Thereis evidence to show that collaborative and helping behaviours were encouragedand that children had opportunities to gain confidence in front of eachother and by explaining things to each other. In this sense the empathic andinteractive ambience that we had hoped to create did appear to emerge in thisclassroom. Levels of engagement in tasks and interactions were over twice ashigh when children were using the computers as they were before their intro-