DESIGNING A FRAMEWORK FOR CONSTRUCTION AND EVALUATION OF VISUAL NARRATIVE FOR CHILDREN

Abstract

The thesis aims at creation of a framework for construction and evaluation of Visual Narratives for Children. The aim to write the thesis is to bring about a concise format, of creation of visual narratives for children. Since there are various visual narratives created for learning, understanding and educating the children. Learning outcomes vary to these types of visual narratives catering to the multiple subject matter, age group. The styles of the VN are also varying. This thesis aims as providing a clear and precise format supported by case studies. These case studies are created keeping in mind the subject matter, appropriate medium, elements of design and their response has been observed. Based on the analysis of the observations the conclusions are derived. This thesis provides a Format, based on the usage of Elements of Design and their efficacy aiming at learning and education of children. To start with the thesis in the Chapter One, first foremost is the need to define a few pivotal terms for the thesis i.e. Narrative, Visual Narrative and Storytelling. A story being told in a pragmatic manner, sequentially unfolding of events, is a Narrative. The Narrative through Visuals, the unfolding of events visually in a structural format, is a Visual Narrative. The process of telling, listening and discussing stories with others is Storytelling (England 2007). Storytelling is the art of conveying ideas, beliefs, personal experiences, and life lessons through structured narratives that elicit emotional resonance and foster deeper understanding or insight. Serrat, O. (2017). Narratives are stories created by storytellers and understood by audiences through their own experiences (Van Laer et al., 2014). Narratives are usually seen as entertaining rather than persuasive, unlike straightforward factual messages (Green, 2006, 2008; Green & Brock, 2002; Shen, Sheer, & Li, 2015). When people engage with stories, they respond both emotionally (Hamby & Jones, 2022) and mentally (Chang, 2009), which can make them more open to the story's message. This means the persuasive effect of a narrative depends less on logical arguments and more on how relatable, engaging, and immersive the story becomes (Green, 2004, 2008). Chapter Two Literature Review, defines the terminology and the key aspects of the thesis like, a story, history of stories, the role of a story, the difference between a story and a narrative, the translation of a story to a narrative to a visual narrative, Role of Visual Narrative, evolution of Visual Narratives, different frameworks of Visual Narratives, aim of VN, Learning through VN, Various psychologists and their study on the learning and development aspects among children, types of learning, learning pedagogy, Chapter Three includes the methodology design and the framework being generated. There have been frameworks, made in the field of social sciences aiming at their impact from different point of views. The literature review chapter contains the frameworks by various scholars. This chapter aims at creating a structural Framework of the Visual Narrative creation, using different Elements of Design and evaluating their Efficacy. The elements of Design (Line, Colour and Space). The VN evaluated on the basis of Engagement, Emotional Response, Curiosity achieved by the VN. The corelation between the above three attributes is established in the literature review chapter. The case studies been developed and response by children is collected, this data has been analysed and conclusions are derived to check the efficacy of the Framework. The case study: ‘Bubble extravaganza’ is a Visual Narrative talks about a very common topic among children, ie. Making Bubble and creating an open-ended narrative. Nearly all children have tried or seen this in some form. Taking such a common topic the development from a more story oriented to a process oriented VN. The Narrative and Visual Narrative is created by myself. The Narrative more focussed on the scientific process and less on the characters. The elaborate and Open- ended narrative approach, where many ways of creating a bubble were VI shown, details of the scientific phenomena are given. The exploration of the different media been used to create the VN. The efficacy of the framework evaluated by the response of the students of the age 10-12 years. The observations were made based on their response to the questionnaire, the Likert tool has been used to measure the response. The statistical evaluation makes the evidences clear. Second case study, using an existing Picture book ‘Leela’s Special Day’, of mine, open-ended in nature has been considered. The students were shown the VN and their observations were analysed. It gave a distinct result, on the basis of the shift created among the three elements of Design in the two versions of the picture book made it very evident, that students for story books, based in certain location (kerala) in this VN in a Rainy season setting described the events better in a high on colour VN contrary to the first case study in which the students responded better towards the VN with less colour and more line drawings. Third Case study, includes an existing Dynamic Visual Narrative without words. The aim to use this VN was the wordlessness, open-ended aspect, the ethnographic location of Mumbai, the stop motion animation and a life of a common family and intense and may emotions been expressed in this 10 min Wordless Visual Narrative. The students of Gurgaon 10-12 years old were shown this VN. They were made to write this story after they finished watching the movie. The evaluation was done by three experts, established curriculum and story writers for Children. Their evaluation was depicted in a statistical form and analysis has been driven out of them. Results show the children were very efficient in remembering the instances, recognising emotions, delivering the sequential comprehension of the story. Observation of students, showed their keen interest and engagement with the Visual Narrative shown. They were quite most of the time just observing the movie. Hence, this thesis throws the light on the development of a framework for further creators of books for learning, text books. The Thesis with observation, evaluations, analysis and conclusions been derived gives a concrete ground to the framework developed. It also marks the way for further research to be carried out subsequently in depth from the point of view of selected media, age group pf children, with different abilities. It is always one learning that leads to another.