Evaluating a Text-to-Scene Generation System as an Aid to Literacy

We discuss classroom experiments using WordsEye, a system for automatically generating 3D scenes from English textual descriptions. Input is syntactically and semantically processed to identify a set of graphical objects and constraints which are then rendered as a 3D scene. We describe experiments with the system in a summer literacy enrichment program conducted at the Harlem Educational Activities Fund with 6th grade students, in which students using the system had significantly greater improvement in their literary character and story descriptions in pre- and post- test essays compared with a control. Students reported that using the system helped them imagine the events in the stories they were reading better. We also observed that social interaction engendered by this process was a strong motivator

Reading Graphic Novels in School: texts, contexts and the interpretive work of critical reading

This paper uses the example of an extra-curricular Graphic Novel Reading Group in order to explore the institutional critical reading practices that take place in English classrooms in the senior years of secondary school. Drawing on Stanley Fish's theory of interpretive communities, it questions the restrictive interpretive strategies applied to literary texts in curriculum English. By looking closely at the interpretive strategies pupils apply to a different kind of text (graphic novels) in an alternative context (an extra-curricular space) the paper suggests that there may be other ways of engaging with text that pupils find less alienating, more pleasurable and less reminiscent of 'work'

Collaborative comic-based digital storytelling with primary school children

This work explores how comic-based digital storytelling can support primary school children in reflecting on situations involving conflict in the classroom. In particular, we focus on investigating three specific aspects: (1) the potential of digital story composition conducted collaboratively or individually, (2) the children’s perception on the use of digital storytelling for reflecting on conflicts that might arise in class and, (3) the teachers’ experience of introducing a digital tool for collabo- rative storytelling and comics composition in an educational context. In this paper, we explored these aspects by develop- ing a case study. A class of 12 children and 2 teachers explore the use of a digital tool, named Communics, aimed at creat- ing digital narratives individually and collaboratively. The results show that digital narratives created from collabora- tive storytelling are longer, more structured, and richer with meaning compared to stories from individual work. More- over, it emerged that children prefer to work collaboratively, even if it meant compromising, going slower and waiting for their turn. Finally, teachers appreciated the collaborative use of Communics, and in particular, the turn-based feature as children can practice the narrative re-elaboration with a peer while waiting for their turn

Haftendes Eigenkapital und freie unbelastete Eigenmittel: Anmerkungen zur Konzeption aufsichtsrechtlicher Solvabilitaetsvorschriften

Available from Bibliothek des Instituts fuer Weltwirtschaft, ZBW, Duesternbrook Weg 120, D-24105 Kiel W 691 (225) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman

Bernoulli-Prinzip und Risikoeinstellung

Available from Bibliothek des Instituts fuer Weltwirtschaft, ZBW, D-21400 Kiel W 691 (241) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman

Überlegungen zu einer verhaltenswissenschaftlich fundierten Kapitalmarktforschung (Teil I) | Ein Erklärungsansatz zum Anlegerverhalten

The second part of the article deals with the second group of determinants of private investor behavior, the person of the investor himself. The considerations differentiate between determinants of the personal disposition like emotional, motivational or cognitive determinants (e. g. the degree to which a private investor is influenced by others) and the personal situation described by sociodemographic (e.g. age, sex) and socioeconomic characteristics (e.g. income, wealth, life cycle, profession). The conceptual considerations are illustrated by some more 1992 survey results