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How children's individual needs challenge the design of educational robotics

Published: 11 June 2008 Publication History

Abstract

Educational robotics has the potential for improving special needs education and for eliminating barriers to learning if it can be focused squarely on the special needs of children. This case study examines a variety of special needs that have the potential to enrich educational robotic design. Educational robotics should be used to meet the individual needs of children and to expose them to the possibilities of various forms of self-expression and exploration. It should facilitate advanced hands-on programming, increase the rate of two-directional communication between child and robot, and improve the quality of instruction and intervention. We designed this study as a qualitative action research project with eight special needs education children who worked with LEGO® Mindstorms® NXT and Topobo robots over a nine-month period. The research convinced us that properly adapted educational robotics can be suited to a variety of users who have different individual needs.

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  • (2023)Robot programming for a child with autism spectrum disorder: a pilot studyInternational Journal of Developmental Disabilities10.1080/20473869.2023.219456869:3(424-431)Online publication date: 17-May-2023
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  1. How children's individual needs challenge the design of educational robotics

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      Barrett Hazeltine

      Two robotic technologies used in special needs education are explored in this paper. The children involved are eight boys, ages five and six. Their behavior using the robots is observed in sessions held every other week, over an entire school year. The two technologies tested are NXT, which involves programming on a computer, and Topobo, which uses a tangible programming interface. The children preferred the more hands-on technology, although the numbers aren't included in the paper. In general, the children took to robotic technologies, and were creative in thinking about new possibilities. They worked together effectively, despite the difficulty some special needs children have with social interaction. The robots held their interest for long periods of time. The paper makes a strong plea for selecting robotic technologies that meet the specific needs of specific children. The claim is reasonable, but the data presented does not really substantiate it, as all of the children preferred the more flexible technology. The value of the paper is in its overall exposition of the effectiveness of robotic technology in special needs education. The paper also implies guidelines for designing such technology. Online Computing Reviews Service

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      cover image ACM Other conferences
      IDC '08: Proceedings of the 7th international conference on Interaction design and children
      June 2008
      289 pages
      ISBN:9781595939944
      DOI:10.1145/1463689
      Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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      Published: 11 June 2008

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      Cited By

      View all
      • (2024)Artificial Intelligence and Educational Robotics in Maker EducationEmpowering STEM Educators With Digital Tools10.4018/979-8-3693-9806-7.ch004(85-106)Online publication date: 1-Nov-2024
      • (2024)Exploring the Developmental Aspects of the Uncanny Valley Effect on Children’s Preferences for Robot AppearanceInternational Journal of Human–Computer Interaction10.1080/10447318.2024.2376365(1-11)Online publication date: 11-Jul-2024
      • (2023)Robot programming for a child with autism spectrum disorder: a pilot studyInternational Journal of Developmental Disabilities10.1080/20473869.2023.219456869:3(424-431)Online publication date: 17-May-2023
      • (2022)Robotics Applications in the Training of Children With Autism Spectrum DisordersInterventions for Improving Adaptive Behaviors in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders10.4018/978-1-7998-8217-6.ch006(90-107)Online publication date: 2022
      • (2020)18 Years of ethics in child-computer interaction researchProceedings of the Interaction Design and Children Conference10.1145/3392063.3394407(161-183)Online publication date: 21-Jun-2020
      • (2020)The effectiveness of robot training in special education: a robot training model proposal for special educationInteractive Learning Environments10.1080/10494820.2019.171054230:6(1092-1116)Online publication date: 19-Jan-2020
      • (2019)Physical Programming for Blind and Low Vision Children at ScaleHuman–Computer Interaction10.1080/07370024.2019.1621175(1-35)Online publication date: 3-Jul-2019
      • (2018)Tangible User InterfacesFoundations and Trends in Human-Computer Interaction10.1561/11000000263:1–2(1-137)Online publication date: 15-Dec-2018
      • (2018)Inclusive Computing in Special Needs ClassroomsProceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3173574.3174091(1-12)Online publication date: 21-Apr-2018
      • (2017)Development of a Programming Teaching-Aid Robot with Intuitive Motion Instruction SetJournal of Robotics and Mechatronics10.20965/jrm.2017.p098029:6(980-991)Online publication date: 20-Dec-2017
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