research-article

Pedagogical Agents for Fostering Question-Asking Skills in Children

Authors:

Kevin Daniel Pantasdo,

Pierre-Yves Oudeyer,

Hélène SauzeonAuthors Info & Claims

CHI '20: Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Pages 1 - 13

https://doi.org/10.1145/3313831.3376776

Published: 23 April 2020 Publication History

Abstract

Question asking is an important tool for constructing academic knowledge, and a self-reinforcing driver of curiosity. However, research has found that question asking is infrequent in the classroom and children's questions are often superficial, lacking deep reasoning. In this work, we developed a pedagogical agent that encourages children to ask divergent-thinking questions, a more complex form of questions that is associated with curiosity. We conducted a study with 95 fifth grade students, who interacted with an agent that encourages either convergent-thinking or divergent-thinking questions. Results showed that both interventions increased the number of divergent-thinking questions and the fluency of question asking, while they did not significantly alter children's perception of curiosity despite their high intrinsic motivation scores. In addition, children's curiosity trait has a mediating effect on question asking under the divergent-thinking agent, suggesting that question-asking interventions must be personalized to each student based on their tendency to be curious.

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Cited By

Gkantia EDinas K(2024)Curiosity and Digital Stories: Exploring Preschoolers’ BehaviorsEuropean Journal of Educational Research10.12973/eu-jer.13.4.1741volume-13-2024:volume-13-issue-4-october-2024(1741-1760)Online publication date: 15-Oct-2024
https://doi.org/10.12973/eu-jer.13.4.1741
Liu CChen WLo FChang CLin H(2024)Teachable Q&A Agent: The Effect of Chatbot Training by Students on Reading Interest and EngagementJournal of Educational Computing Research10.1177/0735633124123646762:4(1122-1154)Online publication date: 27-Feb-2024
https://doi.org/10.1177/07356331241236467
Liu ZZhu ZZhu LJiang EHu XPeppler KRamani K(2024)ClassMeta: Designing Interactive Virtual Classmate to Promote VR Classroom ParticipationProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642947(1-17)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642947
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Pedagogical Agents for Fostering Question-Asking Skills in Children
1. Applied computing
  1. Education
    1. Interactive learning environments
2. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)
    1. Empirical studies in HCI

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cover image ACM Conferences

CHI '20: Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 2020

10688 pages

ISBN:9781450367080

DOI:10.1145/3313831

General Chairs:
Regina Bernhaupt
Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands
,
Florian 'Floyd' Mueller
Monash University, Australia
,
David Verweij
Newcastle University, UK
,
Josh Andres
RMIT, Australia
,
Program Chairs:
Joanna McGrenere
University of British Columbia, Canada
,
Andy Cockburn
University of Canterbury, New Zealand
,
Ignacio Avellino
University of Maryland Baltimore County, USA
,
Alix Goguey
Grenoble Alpes University, France
,
Pernille Bjørn
University of Copenhagen, Denmark
,
Shengdong (Shen) Zhao
National University of Singapore, Singapore
,
Briane Paul Samson
Future University Hakodate, Japan & De La Salle University, Philippines
,
Rafal Kocielnik
University of Washington, USA

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Published: 23 April 2020

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Cited By

Gkantia EDinas K(2024)Curiosity and Digital Stories: Exploring Preschoolers’ BehaviorsEuropean Journal of Educational Research10.12973/eu-jer.13.4.1741volume-13-2024:volume-13-issue-4-october-2024(1741-1760)Online publication date: 15-Oct-2024
https://doi.org/10.12973/eu-jer.13.4.1741
Liu CChen WLo FChang CLin H(2024)Teachable Q&A Agent: The Effect of Chatbot Training by Students on Reading Interest and EngagementJournal of Educational Computing Research10.1177/0735633124123646762:4(1122-1154)Online publication date: 27-Feb-2024
https://doi.org/10.1177/07356331241236467
Liu ZZhu ZZhu LJiang EHu XPeppler KRamani K(2024)ClassMeta: Designing Interactive Virtual Classmate to Promote VR Classroom ParticipationProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642947(1-17)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642947
Han AZhou XCai ZHan SKo RCorrigan SPeppler K(2024)Teachers, Parents, and Students' perspectives on Integrating Generative AI into Elementary Literacy EducationProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642438(1-17)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642438
Yi SRieh S(2024)Children’s conversational voice search as learning: a literature reviewInformation and Learning Sciences10.1108/ILS-10-2023-0133126:1/2(8-28)Online publication date: 17-Jul-2024
https://doi.org/10.1108/ILS-10-2023-0133
Zhang SJaldi CSchroeder NGladstone J(2024)Pedagogical agents in K-12 education: a scoping reviewJournal of Research on Technology in Education10.1080/15391523.2024.2381229(1-28)Online publication date: 5-Aug-2024
https://doi.org/10.1080/15391523.2024.2381229
Earle-Randell TWiggins JMa YCelepkolu MBounajim DGao ZRuiz JBoyer KIsrael MLynch CWiebe E(2024)The impact of near-peer virtual agents on computer science attitudes and collaborative dialogueInternational Journal of Child-Computer Interaction10.1016/j.ijcci.2024.10064640:COnline publication date: 1-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.ijcci.2024.100646
Zhang SJaldi CSchroeder NLópez AGladstone JHeidig S(2024)Pedagogical agent design for K-12 educationComputers & Education10.1016/j.compedu.2024.105165223:COnline publication date: 1-Dec-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.compedu.2024.105165
Obradović MMišić SVasiljević IIvetić DObradović R(2023)The Methodology of Virtualizing Sculptures and Drawings: A Case Study of the Virtual Depot of the Gallery of Matica SrpskaElectronics10.3390/electronics1219415712:19(4157)Online publication date: 7-Oct-2023
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Iwasaki SMoriguchi YSekiyama K(2023)Parental responsiveness and children’s trait epistemic curiosityFrontiers in Psychology10.3389/fpsyg.2022.107548913Online publication date: 26-Jan-2023
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