Motivating children to learn arithmetic with an adaptive robot game

  • Authors:
  • Joris B. Janssen;Chrissy C. van der Wal;Mark A. Neerincx;Rosemarijn Looije

  • Affiliations:
  • Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research TNO, Soesterberg, Germany;Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research TNO, Soesterberg, Germany;Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research TNO, Soesterberg, Germany;Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research TNO, Soesterberg, Germany

  • Venue:
  • ICSR'11 Proceedings of the Third international conference on Social Robotics
  • Year:
  • 2011

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Abstract

Based on a ‘learning by playing' concept, a basic arithmetic learning task was extended with an engaging game to achieve long-term educational interaction for children. Personalization was added to this learning task, to further support the child's motivation and success in learning. In an experiment, twenty children (aged 9-10) interacted three times, spread over days, with a robot using the combined imitation and arithmetic game to test this support. Two versions of the robot were implemented. In one implementation the complexity of the arithmetic progressed towards a predefined group target. In the other version the assignments increased in complexity until a personal end level was reached. A subsequent free-choice period showed that children's motivation to play (and learn) was high, particularly when the game progressed to a personal target. Furthermore results show that most children in the last condition reach higher levels compared to the predefined group level.