Study Shows Toddlers Might Learn Better From Robot Teachers
You probably scanned the title of this article and thought: “What? How could toddlers possibly learn better from robot teachers?” Well, I did cheat a bit when making that statement. The full title should read: “Study shows toddlers might learn better from robot teachers than from passively watching learning videos.”
The Downside of Passive Video Watching
An experiment performed at the University of Virginia suggests that children under 2 learn better when they interact with another person (possibly even if that other person is a robot). Alison Gopnik wrote about the study in the Wall Street Journal.
In the experiment, a real person video-chatted in real-time with toddlers in a learning game that included reading a book with the chorus of “peekaboo baby!” Another group of children simply watched a video recording of the same person reading the book. The key difference in the two groups was that the first group of toddlers had to think about coordinating their responses with another person. The second group just watched passively.
After the children had each been exposed to the peekaboo game, they were tested on how well they retained knowledge of the new words from the game. Those toddlers who had participated in the interactive real-time sessions were more likely to have learned the peekaboo game and even to remember new words.
The Upside of “Contingency”
Gopnik notes other studies that indicate babies learn by using “contingency,” which she defines as “the pattern of call and response between speaker and listener.” Gopnik cites an experiment performed at Ohio State University that supports this concept of the importance of contingency in learning, or at least in engagement.
The study had two types of robots. The first type would light up and beep in response to something the baby did. For example, if the baby made a noise, the robot might light up and beep or even turn its head. In those cases, the baby would respond by following the robot’s gaze or doing other things that indicated the baby was treating the robot like a person.
The second type of robot was one that made noises and lit up in a way that was completely disconnected (or not “contingent”) with the baby’s actions. In those cases, the babies learned to simply ignore the robot.
Making Social Robots Effective Teachers
Combining the results of these various studies, we might extrapolate that children will pay more attention to, and possibly learn more from, effective social robots than from more static video games. Including interactive elements into games that elicit thoughtful responses would be a plus too.
As social robots and smart devices targeted at children begin to enter the market, we should take advantage of the natural instincts of toddlers to turn these robots into effective teaching devices.
At Hutch.ai we’re working internally and with independent content developers to create new forms of interactive content that will enable social robots and other conversational devices to teach, entertain, and enthrall people of all ages.
Check out this cool video that I discovered from WittyWorX to see the possibilities.
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