Floffy: Designing an Outdoor Robot for Children

In our research we utilized the domain of entertainment robotics to educate children on the principles of environmental awareness by playful means outdoors. Our research revolved around the iterative design of Floffy: the environmental robot, which was essentially a playful toy robot that would respond positively to interaction that was beneficial for the environment and the child’s own well being and negatively to interaction or behaviour that was detrimental to the surroundings. We conducted an explorative, informal evaluation of Floffy with two small groups of children and they rated their experience with it positively. Our results show that there is potential in utilizing entertainment robots to educate children on serious and critical issues such as saving our environment and being sustainable

The roles of the formal and informal sectors in the provision of effective science education

For many years, formal school science education has been criticised by students, teachers, parents and employers throughout the world. This article presents an argument that a greater collaboration between the formal and the informal sector could address some of these criticisms. The causes for concern about formal science education are summarised and the major approaches being taken to address them are outlined. The contributions that the informal sector currently makes to science education are identified. It is suggested that the provision of an effective science education entails an enhanced complementarity between the two sectors. Finally, there is a brief discussion of the collaboration and communication still needed if this is to be effective

Children’s preferences for TV show hosts: an international perspective on learning from television

The human hosts of knowledge-focused TV programs for children play a significant role in young people's discoveries about themselves and the world. The fact that the majority of these personalities are slim, young, and White men, and the unquestioned truism among TV producers that children prefer such hosts, led an international research team to ask 3399 youth ages 7-10 from 27 countries to describe their ideal host, as well as themselves, through linguistically sensitive and age-appropriate surveys. Key findings include that the same percentage of boys and girls (84%) prefer hosts of the same gender, and that children self-identifying as having non-"light" skin tones are far less likely than those with a "light" skin tone to prefer hosts of the same skin color. These results suggest that marginalized children worldwide struggle to see themselves represented through respected TV figures, which has broader implications for their identity development and socialization