The POGO story world

In this paper we describe the design process that led us to the development of an innovative narrative environment for children at school and home, the POGO story world. The design process was iterative and co-evolutionary among four design components: user study, concept design, content design and technology design. Grounded on a shared vision this design process allowed us to use principles and concepts of the Cultural Psychology theoretical approach to drive the design concepts and development of the tools of POGO world. The process we describe show how Cognitive Task Design can envision and guide technological development and innovation. To this aim, we firstly present the pedagogical principles derived from the work of Lev Vygotsky and Jerome Bruner that became the conceptual basis for assessing the results of the design process. Subsequently we present an analysis of the pedagogical activity involving narratives carried out in two European schools and the development of the design concepts that were embodied in mock-up and working prototypes. Finally, we briefly report the testing at school of the mock-ups/prototypes, and conclude with the implication of the described design process for extending Cognitive Design to more formal working context.