Research to Story (RTS)
Transforming Inquiry into Narrative
Research to Story (RTS) — Documentation and Proof of Concept
Research to Story (RTS) began as a way to scaffold inquiry-driven lesson plans for early undergraduate research communication. It evolved into a wider experiment of blending pedagogy, philosophy, generative AI, technology, and self-directed learning. It has become something more: RTS is a "system" that is animated by the very tension it interrogates:
- using generative AI to build and orchestrate "movement" within an app that supports inquiry-driven storytelling.
- using LLMs upstream via their APIs to scaffold a student’s journey into research communication, while simultaneously maintaining core distinctions between what is happening and how it is happening.
- using AI outputs that feel “compelling,” but then ask: why do they feel that way? What are we projecting?
RTS is many things at once:
- A documentation site charting an ongoing educational experiment,
- An outline of a working proof of concept for a future app supporting inquiry-centered storytelling,
- A counter to a flattening of inquiry into isolated "skills,"
- A provocation to recognize the friction, gaps, and relational nature of research communication,
- A space for exploring how generative AI might scaffold and orchestrate movement,
- A personal project for learning coding, system architecture, and database design through practice.
- An experiment in recursive inquiry: Using generative AI to help build an app that questions and reflects on the process and helps me define the contours of AI literacy.
RTS is also written as a form of contextual AI orchestration middleware that takes the raw material of generative AI and routes it through:
- educational design logic,
- rhetorical sequencing,
- structured metadata,
- memory-aware data architecture.
While RTS incorporates practical elements (movements, tasks, reflection prompts, production exercises), it remains flexible, partial, and unfinished by design. It is a framework for holding inquiry open—even my own.
Core Postures of RTS
- Inquiry is relational, embodied, and open-ended.
- Production, doing and making, is part of inquiry.
- Reflection is a generative practice.
Scaffolding Inquiry into Story
RTS Movements
Progressive scaffolds guiding students from personal connection to public contribution, each focused on a critical phase of inquiry development.
Reflection Journal Companion
A parallel thread inviting students to surface noticing, name tensions, and carry forward questions — tracing their inquiry as a lived process.
Black Box Micro-Engagements
Low-stakes production exercises embedded after each movement, demystifying tools and fostering technical resilience through playful encounters with friction.
Together, these dimensions nurture the completed projects, but aim to emphasize the deeper process of *making* with greater agency, complexity, and care.
🛠️ Technology Stack (Proof of Concept)
RTS is being developed as a working proof of concept by blending educational design, philosophical inquiry, and self-directed technical learning.
- Frontend: React, Next.js
- Backend: PostgreSQL (via Supabase)
- APIs: Google's Gemini Models
Additional tooling and architecture may evolve as the project grows.