Lessons from teachers on performing HRI studies with young children in schools

Westlund, Jacqueline Kory; Gordon, Goren; Spaulding, Samuel; Lee, Jin Joo; Plummer, Luke; Martinez, Marayna; Das, Madhurima; Breazeal, Cynthia

doi:10.1109/hri.2016.7451776

Cited by 40 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Researchers working with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) also suggest that children's interest in robots contributes to their learning . Furthermore, teachers found a robot useful after using it in class (; see also ).…”

Section: Motivation and Engagementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Robots for Early Language Learning: Current Evidence and Future Directions

Kanero

Geçkin

Oranç

et al. 2018

Child Dev Perspectives

110

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ABSTRACT-In this article, we review research on childrobot interaction (CRI) to discuss how social robots can be used to scaffold language learning in young children. First we provide reasons why robots can be useful for teaching first and second languages to children. Then we review studies on CRI that used robots to help children learn vocabulary and produce language. The studies vary in first and second languages and demographics of the learners (typically developing children and children with hearing and communication impairments). We conclude that, although social robots are useful for teaching language to children, evidence suggests that robots are not as effective as human teachers. However, this conclusion is not definitive because robots that tutor students in language have not been evaluated rigorously and technology is advancing rapidly. We suggest that CRI offers an opportunity for research and list possible directions for that work. KEYWORDS-child-robotinteraction; social robots; language learning Using technology in early education has gained considerable attention as digital devices (e.g., smartphones and tablets) have developed and been integrated into children's lives (1). In this article, we spotlight one of the newest additions to the list of devices-social robots-and discuss whether research on child-robot interaction (CRI) can help children learn first and second languages.A social robot is "an autonomous or semiautonomous robot that interacts and communicates with humans by following the behavioral norms expected by the people with whom the robot is intended to interact" (2, p. 592). Social robots have been used to teach scientific knowledge, mathematics, social skills, computer programming, and language (3, 4). However, research on CRI has not been readily accessible to all those interested because the studies appear primarily in conference proceedings and journals dedicated to the field of robotics. Furthermore, these studies often focus on technical features of robots rather than educational concerns, such as whether and how robots can help young language learners.In this article, we summarize findings on CRI and evaluate them critically. First we discuss briefly why a robot may be useful for teaching language to children. Then we evaluate whether children enjoy learning language with a robot. In the main section of the article, we ask whether children can learn language from a robot. We analyze learning outcomes at three levels: whether robots are at all successful teaching language to children, whether they are more successful teaching language than other digital devices, and whether robots can teach language as effectively as human teachers. Although social robots have potential as a language teaching tool, evidence suggests that robots are not as effective as human teachers. However, we argue that researchers must continue exploring this issue because the educational benefits of robots have not been evaluated thoroughly and technology in robotics is advancing quickly. In the last sec...

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Section: Motivation and Engagementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Robots for Early Language Learning: Current Evidence and Future Directions

Kanero

Geçkin

Oranç

et al. 2018

Child Dev Perspectives

110

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Additionally, we played all of the robot's speech through headphones instead of a speaker, an approach that is not uncommon when conducting research in classrooms (e.g. see [21,25,32]). We tried to lessen the potential effects of disembodied speech by using lip-synchronisation and by explaining beforehand that the robot talked through the headphones.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since the study took place in a real classroom during school time, teachers had requested that interacting with the system should not interrupt or disturb regular lessons. Such requests are common when doing a study in class [32]. Therefore, all verbal utterances produced by the system and robot were played through headphones.…”

Section: Design Of System and Multimodal Interactionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Words of encouragement: how praise delivered by a social robot changes children’s mindset for learning

Davison

Wijnen

Charisi

et al. 2020

J Multimodal User Interfaces

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This paper describes a longitudinal study in which children could interact unsupervised and at their own initiative with a fully autonomous computer aided learning (CAL) system situated in their classroom. The focus of this study was to investigate how the mindset of children is affected when delivering effort-related praise through a social robot. We deployed two versions: a CAL system that delivered praise through headphones only, and an otherwise identical CAL system that was extended with a social robot to deliver the praise. A total of 44 children interacted repeatedly with the CAL system in two consecutive learning tasks over the course of approximately four months. Overall, the results show that the participating children experienced a significant change in mindset. The effort-related praise that was delivered by a social robot seemed to have had a positive effect on children’s mindset, compared to the regular CAL system where we did not see a significant effect.

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“…Lastly, whereas social robots are already applied in kindergarten settings, there is little insight into the perspectives of educators and parents on the use of social robots in kindergarten. Research has primarily focused on the opinions and acceptance of preschool, primary or high school teachers towards the use of social robots in classroom [62][63][64], but there is a lack of knowledge about the expectations of the educators and parents about what kinds of interactions should take place between a robot and a child and what could be the content of these interactions. One approach to address this lack of knowledge could be to design and shape the use of the robot in the institutional context together with the stakeholders involved.…”

Section: Pedagogical Conceptsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethical Considerations of Applying Robots in Kindergarten Settings: Towards an Approach from a Macroperspective

Tolksdorf

Siebert

Zorn

et al. 2020

Int J of Soc Robotics

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In child-robot interaction (cHRI) research, many studies pursue the goal to develop interactive systems that can be applied in everyday settings. For early education, increasingly, the setting of a kindergarten is targeted. However, when cHRI and research are brought into a kindergarten, a range of ethical and related procedural aspects have to be considered and dealt with. While ethical models elaborated within other human-robot interaction settings, e.g., assisted living contexts, can provide some important indicators for relevant issues, we argue that it is important to start developing a systematic approach to identify and tackle those ethical issues which rise with cHRI in kindergarten settings on a more global level and address the impact of the technology from a macroperspective beyond the effects on the individual. Based on our experience in conducting studies with children in general and pedagogical considerations on the role of the institution of kindergarten in specific, in this paper, we enfold some relevant aspects that have barely been addressed in an explicit way in current cHRI research. Four areas are analyzed and key ethical issues are identified in each area: (1) the institutional setting of a kindergarten, (2) children as a vulnerable group, (3) the caregivers' role, and (4) pedagogical concepts. With our considerations, we aim at (i) broadening the methodology of the current studies within the area of cHRI, (ii) revalidate it based on our comprehensive empirical experience with research in kindergarten settings, both laboratory and real-world contexts, and (iii) provide a framework for the development of a more systematic approach to address the ethical issues in cHRI research within kindergarten settings.

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Lessons from teachers on performing HRI studies with young children in schools

Cited by 40 publications

References 18 publications

Social Robots for Early Language Learning: Current Evidence and Future Directions

Social Robots for Early Language Learning: Current Evidence and Future Directions

Words of encouragement: how praise delivered by a social robot changes children’s mindset for learning

Ethical Considerations of Applying Robots in Kindergarten Settings: Towards an Approach from a Macroperspective

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