Socially Assistive Robot Enabled Home-Based Care for Supporting People with Autism

The growing number of people diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is an issue of concern in Australia and many countries. In order to improve the engagement, reciprocity, productivity and usefulness of people with ASD in a home-based environment, in this paper the authors report on a 9 month Australian home-based care trial of socially assistive robot (Lucy) to support two young adults with autism. This work demonstrates that by marrying personhood (of people with ASD) with human-like communication modalities of Lucy potentially positive outcomes can be achieved in terms of engagement, productivity and usefulness as well as reciprocity of the people with ASD. Lucy also provide respite to their carers (e.g., parents) in their day to day living

EDUCATIONAL ROBOTICS AND COMPUTATIONAL THINKING IN EARLY CHILDHOOD - LINKING THEORY TO PRACTICE WITH ST(R)EAM LEARNING SCENARIOS

STEAM enhances critical and computational thinking, problem-solving, algorithmic thinking, decision-making, through Science, Technology, Engineering and Arts, as well as Mathematics. With the contribution of Reading (Reading) and Writing (wRiting) which include recognition and visualisation, pattern formation as well as skills acquired through the use of tools such as pencil and brush, which are proven to be valuable for children's development, STREAM is now also linked to Thinking and Art in its broadest sense. Therefore, in this paper, STREAM Learning Scenarios are proposed that can be implemented within the kindergarten and primary school classroom using the BeeBot robot, highlighting its added pedagogical value and linking the theoretical framework with the playful practical implementation.  Article visualizations

Swipe, Tap, and Read: Research on E-book Tools, Features, and Student Engagement

This study explores the digital tools and features that students had access to and interacted with while reading e-books on Raz-Kids. The goal was to use this information to understand how e-book reading impacted student motivation and engagement. This study was conducted for five weeks, and implemented three days per week with two first grade classes during Daily 5 or Reading Centers. I collected qualitative data by conducting a student survey, documenting the e-books that the student participants read and the digital tools and features that they used, recording field note observations, and conducting audio-recorded interviews with the student participants. Findings were derived from the research. The findings were a) the impact of Raz-Kids on reading engagement; b) first graders’ knowledge of e-book tools and features using Raz-Kids; and c) first graders’ access to and interaction with e-books outside of the classroom. Conclusions of this research study include that a) student reading experience is influenced by the Raz-Kids star system; b) the quantity of e-book tools lead to exploration; and c) the quality of e-book features impact student reading engagement

Intergenerationality in a Digital World: Proposals of Activities:Bilingual (EN and PT)

A educação para os media tem ganho um grande fôlego nos últimos anos, porém ainda precisa de passos de gigante, muito em especial ao nível da forma como é tratada e enraizada junto dos cidadãos. Este e-book surge com essa preocupação. As fichas de atividades tão diversificadas, todas elas com uma componente digital, embora não esquecendo em alguns casos a ligação a outros dispositivos não digitais e formas de estar na vida no dia a dia. Estas 20 propostas do e-book Intergeracionalidade e o mundo digital: Propostas de atividades/Intergenerationality in a Digital World: Proposals of activities tentam dar forma a uma necessidade que encontramos de fazer com que as pessoas, além das crianças e dos jovens em espaço escolar e no contexto mais formal, questionem, pensem e ajam sobre as interpelações do mundo mediático e da informação.Media Education has gained momentum in recent years, but this area still needs to be improved, especially in terms of how it is perceived and implemented among citizens. This e-book is the result of this concern. The activities are diverse and include a digital component, without forgetting the connection to other non-digital devices in daily life. These 20 proposals of the e-book Intergeracionalidade e o mundo digital: Propostas de atividades/Intergenerationality in a Digital World: Proposals of activities intend to respond to the need that people, besides children in education, question, think and act on the interpellations of a mediatised world full of information available.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

How Social Robots can Influence Motivation as Motivators in Learning:A Scoping Review

Earlier research has investigated how educational social robots can influence learner motivation and learning outcomes as motivators instead of learning materials. This paper presents a scoping literature review of this body of work, focusing on the educational strategies used, and describing the range of approaches used to influence motivation and learning through social robots, not as learning tools but as motivators. Nineteen advanced studies are identified and described according to the components of the ARCS model (a motivation model dominant in robotics research): Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction. We summarized the measures used for motivation in the studies and relate these measures to the four ARCS model components. Finally, we analyzed the studies from the perspectives of sample groups, study type, and domain or subject. Our analyses suggested that beyond focusing on persuasive (educational) strategies that educational social robots can use to keep learners' attention, researchers should also focus on the satisfaction component of motivation. Furthermore, future studies should examine long-term interactions, apply more rigor in using validated questionnaires, and combine qualitative and quantitative methods to understand not only the effects of these different approaches but also the reasons behind them.</p

Developing Emotional Security Among Children Who Have Been Adopted

This study investigated the development of emotional security among 6-10 year old children who have been adopted by exposing them to an experimental condition during which they could engage with either a live dog or a robotic dog. The live dog was a certified therapy dog; the robotic dog was a FurReal® toy marketed by Hasbro as Biscuit. Utilizing a mixed-method embedded experimental design, the experimental condition was intentionally structured to promote engagement between the participant and the dog or robot. 43 children who had been adopted from the child welfare system were randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group was exposed to a therapy dog (n=22), while another was exposed to the social robotic dog (n=21). The development of emotional security was targeted for measurement in this study using the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, a test of social understanding that has been linked in the literature to oxytocin- a hormone premised to be a marker of the development of emotional security. Physiological anxiety was also measured as an indicator of emotional security using the Revised Child Manifest Anxiety Scale-2 (RCMAS-2). Both measures were administered before and after exposure to the experimental condition. A linear mixed-effect regression analysis showed that for boys only, there was a significant effect of engagement with either companion on social understanding (