Preschoolers' Interactions with Social Robots: Investigating the Potential for Eliciting Metatalk and Critical Technological Thinking

摘要

In this paper, we present a pilot study investigating whether and how social robots can be used to elicit metatalk in preschool children. We conceive metatalk as communication about communication, which requires children's ability to reflect on what is happening in an interaction. We argue that this ability is essential to develop critical thinking about emerging technologies from an early age, thus empowering children as digitally literate citizens. Despite the variety of educational domains in which social robots have demonstrated their potential as learning partners, there has been little research on how they can be used to support children's language development in terms of their metatalk as a key social skill. The aim of this paper is twofold: First, we report on a method for eliciting metatalk using social robots. Specifically, we explored how small groups of children could first interact with two social robots, whereupon this interaction was used as a conversational prop in guided group discussions with an experimenter to elicit metatalk. Second, we present preliminary results suggesting that, based on the method developed, the children were able to successfully engage in metatalk, thereby potentially providing an entry point for critical reflection on the technology.