Poster on children’s learning from conversational agents accepted to CDS Conference
My poster entitled Artificial Intelligence Enhances Children’s Science Learning from Television Shows by Boosting their Response to Questions of High Cognitive Demand. was accepted to be presented at the the Cognitive Development and Society Conference in 2024.
Abstract: Children’s learning from television shows can be amplified if they can meaningfully interact with media characters during their video watching. In this project, we partnered with PBS KIDS to develop interactive science-focused videos in which the main character, powered by artificial intelligence, engaged in conversation with children by asking them questions and providing responsive feedback. We studied the impact on children’s learning of watching these interactive videos as compared to watching pseudo-interactive videos, in which the media character asks children the same questions and gives generic feedback after a fixed amount of time. The children who watched the interactive videos performed better on a science post-test than did children who watched the pseudo-interactive version. Most interestingly, through structural equation modeling, we have demonstrated that children’s increased inclination to actively respond to questions of high cognitive demand – those prompting prediction, inference, and explanation – mediated this effect. Over the course of an episode, the AI character’s responsiveness steadily increased children’s verbal engagement, in contrast to steadily diminishing participation observed in the pseudo-interactive condition. This paper sheds light on the feasibility, effectiveness, and mechanism of using conversational technologies to support children’s active learning from video watching.
He, K., Xu, Y., Levine, J., Ritchie, D., Bustamante., & Warschauer, M. (2024, March). Artificial Intelligence Enhances Children’s Science Learning from Television Shows by Boosting their Response to Questions of High Cognitive Demand [Poster session]. Cognitive Development Society Conference, Pasadena, CA.