Social/dialogical roles of social robots in supporting children's learning of language and literacy - A review and analysis of innovative roles

One of the many purposes for which social robots are designed is education, and there have been many attempts to systematize their potential in this field. What these attempts have in common is the recognition that learning can be supported in a variety of ways because a learner can be engaged in different activities that foster learning. Up to now, three roles have been proposed when designing these activities for robots: as a teacher or tutor, a learning peer, or a novice. Current research proposes that deciding in favor of one role over another depends on the content or preferred pedagogical form. However, the design of activities changes not only the content of learning, but also the nature of a human–robot social relationship. This is particularly important in language acquisition, which has been recognized as a social endeavor. The following review aims to specify the differences in human–robot social relationships when children learn language through interacting with a social robot. After proposing categories for comparing these different relationships, we review established and more specific, innovative roles that a robot can play in language-learning scenarios. This follows Mead’s (1946) theoretical approach proposing that social roles are performed in interactive acts. These acts are crucial for learning, because not only can they shape the social environment of learning but also engage the learner to different degrees. We specify the degree of engagement by referring to Chi’s (2009) progression of learning activities that range from active, constructive, toward interactive with the latter fostering deeper learning. Taken together, this approach enables us to compare and evaluate different human–robot social relationships that arise when applying a robot in a particular social role

How turn-timing can inform about becoming familiar with a task and its changes: a study of shy and less shy four-year-old children

In novel situations, the productive communicative behavior of shy children can require more time than that of their less shy peers. Investigating 14 preschoolers, we asked which situational demands and changes contribute to the individual processing. Whereas children’s shyness was measured by a standardized questionnaire given to caregivers, their processing of situational demands was measured by their nonverbal turn-timing over two sessions with a social robot. We focused on how children respond to their partner when the situation changes in comparison to a familiar one. Our results, based on grouping children by shyness level, indicate that while differences in turn-timing were not significant, shy children’s turn-timing was consistently characterized by higher latencies compared to the less shy children across sessions and tasks, particularly when introduced to a new task. Correlational analysis, accounting for the full shyness spectrum, confirmed this trend. Findings clarify how children perceive a situation and situational changes

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

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

Diversity in Children’s Temperament: Perspectives on Shyness in Interaction

One key dimension of individual differences that affects children’s development, interactional behavior, and cognitive processes is temperamental shyness–a tendency to be reluctant or anxious in the face of new social situations. Prior research has documented shyness holds the potential to negatively impact a child’s social functioning, psychological health, and language abilities. However, emerging research from different disciplinary angles sheds a more positive light on shyness by illustrating adaptive aspects such as benefits in social cognitive and communicative functioning (Viertel, 2019). Furthermore, there is accumulating evidence that shyness may not necessarily have a detrimental effect on language learning, especially when knowledge is assessed under familiar conditions (Kucker, Zimmerman, & Chmielewski, 2021; Tolksdorf, Viertel, & Rohlfing, 2021). However, although considered a ubiquitous phenomenon, the relation between shyness and other cognitive, perceptual, and social processes in childhood remains far from understood. Thus, by drawing together multiple levels of analyses and perspectives, the aim of this symposium is to emphasize the diverse manifestations of shyness in interactional settings and its impact on empathy, language, and social interactions

Social/dialogical roles of social robots in supporting children's learning of language and literacy-A review and analysis of innovative roles

One of the many purposes for which social robots are designed is education, and there have been many attempts to systematize their potential in this field. What these attempts have in common is the recognition that learning can be supported in a variety of ways because a learner can be engaged in different activities that foster learning. Up to now, three roles have been proposed when designing these activities for robots: as a teacher or tutor, a learning peer, or a novice. Current research proposes that deciding in favor of one role over another depends on the content or preferred pedagogical form. However, the design of activities changes not only the content of learning, but also the nature of a human-robot social relationship. This is particularly important in language acquisition, which has been recognized as a social endeavor. The following review aims to specify the differences in human-robot social relationships when children learn language through interacting with a social robot. After proposing categories for comparing these different relationships, we review established and more specific, innovative roles that a robot can play in language-learning scenarios. This follows Mead's (1946) theoretical approach proposing that social roles are performed in interactive acts. These acts are crucial for learning, because not only can they shape the social environment of learning but also engage the learner to different degrees. We specify the degree of engagement by referring to Chi's (2009) progression of learning activities that range from active, constructive, toward interactive with the latter fostering deeper learning. Taken together, this approach enables us to compare and evaluate different human-robot social relationships that arise when applying a robot in a particular social role.CHIL