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Chapter 25FROM PETS TO STORYROOMSConstructive Storytelling Systems Designed with Children,for ChildrenJaime Montemayor, Allison Druin, and James HendlerUniversity of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer StudiesAbstractWorking with children as our design partners, our intergenerational design teamat the University of Maryland has been developing both new design methodologiesand new storytelling technology for children. In this chapter, we focus ontwo results of our efforts: PETS, a robotic storyteller, and Storykit, a constructionkit of low-tech and high-tech components for children to build physicalinteractive storytelling environments.1. IntroductionSince 1998 our interdisciplinary and intergenerational design team at theUniversity of Maryland has been developing new technology for children, withchildren. Our team blends children (7-11 years old) and adults, from disciplinesas diverse as engineering, education, computer science, and art. In largepart, because of our child design partners, we have come to focus our workon the development of technology that encourages storytelling for elementaryschool-aged children, and most recently for kindergarteners.Because storytelling is inherently constructive, and since children explorenew ideas and feeling through stories ([6], [15], [20]), the resulting productsof our design team have been kits that enable children to create their own stories.Our research projects have evolved from PETS, an emotional storytellingrobot [10], to a StoryKit that enables children to build physical and interactivestory environments [1]. In this chapter we will first briefly describe cooperativeinquiry ([7], [9]), our design methodology for including children as designpartners. We then use the PETS and StoryKit projects to demonstrate howstorytelling technologies can enhance creativity, collaboration, and social interactionsamong elementary school-aged children.