Idea generation in interactive learning environments requires the consideration of the interactivity and materiality aspects of creativity. In educational robotics, idea generation is mediated through a technological object in a process allowing us to observe the three main components of divergent thinking: fluency, flexibility, and originality.…

This study proposed a robot-assisted digital storytelling approach to reduce hospitalized children's anxiety about intravenous injections and to improve their therapeutic communication and therapeutic engagement. In order to verify the effectiveness of the robot-assisted digital storytelling approach, a randomized controlled study was implemented.…

Artificially intelligent robots as teachers (AI teachers) have attracted extensive attention due to their potential to relieve the challenge of global teacher shortage and realize universal elementary education by 2030. Despite mass production of service robots and discussions about their educational applications, the study of full-fledged AI…

With technological developments in the 21st century, robot applications have proven to be beneficial in providing some opportunities to help with teaching numerous skills such as joint attention and social skills to children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, in the studies investigating the effects of robots on joint attention (JA) in…

Recognising emotions, facial expressions and tone of voice and body language, expressing and managing their own emotions, and understanding and responding to other people's emotions are often difficult for children with autism spectrum disorder. Since the emotional codes of individuals with autism spectrum disorder are different, those people will…

Drawing on research in mathematics and science education that has supported student higher-level thinking in K-12 classrooms, we sought to classify the ways of thinking and reasoning supported by robotics coding tasks. As part of a larger project, we examined coding tasks implemented in elementary school classrooms and analyzed ways of thinking…

The present study investigated whether Japanese 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children exhibit a yes bias to questions from a physically present humanoid robot, Nao. The robot asked the children yes-no questions about familiar and unfamiliar objects. To both types of questions, the 3-year-old children exhibited a yes bias while the 5-year-old children…

In lectures with presentation slides such as an e-learning lecture on video, it is important for lecturers to control their non-verbal behavior involving gaze, gesture, and paralanguage. However, it is not so easy even for well-experienced lecturers to properly use non-verbal behavior in their lecture to promote learners' understanding. This paper…

Educational robotics (ER) has emerged as a novel educational tool that enables students to improve their thinking skills. The study aims to compare the effect of a structured versus an unstructured ER curriculum on students' group metacognition during collaborative problem-solving with ER. The authors' hypothesis is that an unstructured ER…

Drawing on Bakhtin's (Discourse in the novel, University of Texas Press, 1981) notions of dialogism and appropriation, this case study explored how a 5-year-old Latina named Lucia negotiated the gender discourses involved in designing and building robots. The study findings revealed that Lucia performed her gender by appropriating different gender…

Purpose: Much remains unknown about how young children orient to computational objects and how we as learning scientists can orient to young children as computational thinkers. While some research exists on how children learn programming, very little has been written about how they learn the technical skills needed to operate technologies or to…

Despite attention by educators and researchers to the advancement of robotics research in education, little experimental research has been conducted on the use of robots in language education for young children. This paper reports on a study aimed at providing an improved English language development assessment questionnaire specifically for use…

Difficulties with social interaction characterise children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and have a negative impact in their everyday life. Integrating a social-humanoid robot within the standard clinical treatment has been proven promising. The main aim of this randomised controlled study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a robot-assisted…

Contribution: This article presents an engineering outreach activity that aims to teach K-12 students how to develop a tendon-based soft robotic finger. The primary objectives of this STEM activity are to introduce students to the fundamentals of soft robotics, its interdisciplinary nature, and to offer them a hands-on and engaging learning…

Purpose: Chatbots and artificial intelligence (AI) have the potential to alleviate some of the challenges faced by humans. Faculties frequently swamped with teaching and research may find it difficult to act in a parental role for students by offering them individualized advice. Hence, the primary purpose of this study is to review the literature…