Rural Minority Students’ Perceptions of Ms. An, The Robot Teaching Assistant, as a Social Teaching Tool

Abstract

We present a socially interactive robotic teaching assistant to engage 5th grade rural minority students in practicing multiplication. In this research we use a NAO humanoid robot as a robotic teaching assistant, Ms. An (Meeting Student’s Academic Needs). We have programmed this robot to ask a student multiplication questions based on the Common Core State Standards. We measured, via questionnaires, the students’ perceptions of the robot’s sociability and explored the students’ preference for using the robot as a study tool. We discovered that students perceived the robot as a sociable agent, for 8 of the 10 social ability questionnaire items. Furthermore, perceptions of social ability significantly increased between pre- and post-interaction. Students also indicated, via questionnaire, that they preferred their interaction with the robot assistant over other kinds of study support: peers, computer programs, teachers, other adults. Results from this study provide insight toward the design of a social robot teaching aid.