Collaborative Reading With a Social Robot Helps Promote Interest and Discussion (Poster 20)

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Thursday 3:35 p.m.
  In Poster Session: (Generative) Artificial Intelligence in Education

Abstract

Social interactions, like discussion of science content, support motivation and learning in that content, but can be challenging to facilitate in large classrooms. In this study, we explore the feasibility of a social robot to support interest and improve discussion in a group reading activity. To do so, we conducted a field study in three middle-school science classrooms, where groups of 6th grade students (N = 16) read a short article assigned by their teacher. We found that groups that read with a social robot had higher situational interest scores, more often discussed answers together, and included more ideas from outside the text when compared to groups of students completing the same activity as a traditional paper-based lesson.

Authors

• Joseph E Michaelis, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Diana Rodriguez, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Brenda Leyva, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Ahmed Shah, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Md Anisur Rahman, University of Illinois at Chicago