Robot tutor and pupils’ educational ability: Teaching the times tables

• Published in: Computers and education Vol. 157; p. 103970
• Main Authors: Konijn, Elly A., Hoorn, Johan F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01-11-2020
• Subjects: Capacity issues; Multiplication tables; Primary school; Robot tutor; Social robots; Tutoring; Capacity issues; Tutoring; Primary school; Social robots; Robot tutor; Multiplication tables
• ISSN: 0360-1315; 1873-782X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.compedu.2020.103970

Research shows promising results of educational robots in language and STEM tasks. In language, more research is available, occasionally in view of individual differences in pupils’ educational ability levels, and learning seems to improve with more expressive robot behaviors. In STEM, variations in robots’ behaviors have been examined with inconclusive results and never while systematically investigating how differences in educational abilities match with different robot behaviors. We applied an autonomously tutoring robot (without tablet, partly WOz) in a 2 × 2 experiment of social vs. neutral behavior in above-average vs. below-average schoolchildren (N = 86; age 8–10 years) while rehearsing the multiplication tables on a one-to-one basis. The standard school test showed that on average, pupils significantly improved their performance even after 3 occasions of 5-min exercises. Beyond-average pupils profited most from a robot tutor, whereas those below average in multiplication benefited more from a robot that showed neutral rather than more social behavior.
•One-to-one robot tutoring benefits learning the multiplication tables.•We suggest to differentiate robot tutoring, according to the level of advancement.•A more social robot is not always the better teacher.•We discuss that robot-teacher partnerships may shape the future of pedagogy.