Kids would rather learn from smart robots than less-smart humans: new study

A new study published by Canadian researchers suggests that kindergarten-age children would rather be taught by a competent robot than an incompetent human.

The impacts of virtual learning on school-age kids is one area researchers have examined in recent years, but now, new research goes a step further, suggesting kids may be more susceptible to the teachings of robots over humans.

A new study published in the Journal of Cognition and Development by researchers from Concordia University has found that kindergarten-aged children prefer to be taught by a competent robot as opposed to an incompetent human - the children's age being an influential factor to this research finding.

“This data tells us that the children will choose to learn from a robot even though they know it is not like them. They know that the robot is mechanical,” said Anna-Elisabeth Baumann, the paper’s lead author and a PhD candidate, in the study press release.

The study researchers observed two groups of Canadian children, one a group of three-year-olds and the other a group of five-years-olds, as they participated in virtual meetings through Zoom.

On the screen, they watched a video of a woman and a small robot, named Nao, who had human-like characteristics such as a head, face and body.

The children watched as the woman labelled objects incorrectly (calling a car a book, for example), while Nao correctly labelled objects.

The next part of the experiment involved the two “teachers” presenting the children with items that they would likely not recognize, including the top of a turkey baster, a roll of twine and a silicone muffin container. This time, the woman and Nao both labelled these unfamiliar items with made up terms like “mido,” “toma,” “fep” and “dax.”