Diapositiva 1
Analyzing the Attitude of Students Towards Robots when Lectured
on Programming by Robotic or Human Teachers
Six months coming to class each day for classes Jill Watson, a
professor of the course 'online' on software design.
Jill answered questions, gave explanations, raised doubts
...
Jill was such a good teacher that even a student of the
Technological University of Georgia would nominate as the best
teacher of the university.
There was nothing to suspect that behind responses Jill it
really was a robot.
I'm going to talk about the attitude of students towards robots
in educational environment.1
Introduction
Nowadays there are many projects that aim to promote
computational thinking in students to teach computing, exploring
different programming environments, developed tools, and generated
material to these students.
Several of these projects uses robots for this goal.2
Introduction
We are interested on exploring the relationships between age and
previous experience using IT-technology for the acceptance of
robots as teachers.
In particular, this work analyses the performance of a group of
students when the same classes were taught by a robot or by a human
teacher.
These students have participated in a technology campus at the
University of leon.3
Introduction
In this paper we will focus in the attitude towards robots.
We are used Two standardized tests to obtain this goal.
We have proposed NARS scale to evaluate these attitudes in
different experiments.
Also we have studied the RAS scale to measure peoples anxieties.
The RAS was developed to determine human anxiety towardrobots
evoked in real and imaginary HRI situations.
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Experiment
In order to evaluate students attitude towards robots we
designed an experiment where the same computational concepts are
taught by a robot and by a human teacher.
The human teacher was a programming teacher with more than ten
years of experience in programming courses at university level.
The robot teacher was a Baxter robot. Baxter is an industrial
robot that consists of two seven degree-of-freedom arms attached to
a torso topped by a head made up by a display.
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Experiment
The experiment was organized in two different scenarios; one
with a human teacher and another with a robot teacher.
The same script was used in both. First, teachers gave a brief
lecture using the same outline and the same slides.
Then, teachers explained the exercises that students should
carry out.
Last, students would make the exercises and fill a
questionnaire.6
Experiment
For showing the repetition, Baxter takes a ball from a ramp and
drops it on a box repeatedly, weather there is a ball or not.
For showing the condition, Baxter takes a ball from a spot only
if there is a ball on that spot.
At the end of the explanation, both teachers would explain the
exercises to be performed by students.
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Experiment
For practicing both repetition and condition, a practical
exercise was proposed.
Problem had to be solved using Scratch programming environment
because they have been learning about it in the Summer Camp where
they were participated.
The exercise consisted of building a swimming pool in a
Minecraft world.
Minecraft was chosen because it is a very popular game among
children, it has clearly recognizable graphics and uses different
types of blocks.
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Data analysis
The total number of students that participated in the experiment
was 210 , 114 of the them had Baxter as a teacher and the 96
remaining had a human teacher.
Students' age range was from 6 to 16. Experiment results have
been analyzed as a whole and also by groups.
Groups division were made according to Spanish Educational Law:
Primary1 from 6 to 9 years old, Primary2 from 10 to 13 and
Secondary from 13 to 17 years old.
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Data analysis
The NARS questionnaire has been used in similar analysis of
robotic systems for education and measures the psychological states
reflecting opinions that people used to have about robots.
Presents three types of questions:Negative Attitude toward
Interaction with Robots.Negative Attitude toward the Social
Influence of Robots.Negative Attitude towards Emotional
Interactions with Robots.
The RAS questionnaire measures robot anxiety, which is defined
as emotions of anxiety or fear preventing individuals from
interaction with robots having functions of communications in
daily-life.
The RAS questionnaire presents also three subscales:Negative
Attitude toward Communication with Robots.Negative Attitude toward
Robots' Behavior.Negative Attitude toward Robots' Discourse.
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Data analysisItemALL
STUDENTSNoYesNSNK/NAI124.850.022.92.4I253.829.59.07.7I356.721.021.41.0I472.49.015.72.8I587.64.85.72.0I677.19.011.02.9I761.417.119.02.4I829.532.934.47.9I926.248.121.44.3I1045.723.325.25.7I1127.143.323.85.7I128.168.619.04.3I1317.148.629.05.2
ItemALL
STUDENTSNalSQALI1430.528.124.38.19.0I1554.820.011.06.28.1I1630.128.118.112.911.0I1729.619.019.017.115.2I1831.519.522.99.017.1I1918.113.317.627.123.8I2020.522.924.817.614.3I2127.122.422.410.018.1I2228.124.320.512.914.3I2319.615.220.021.024.3I2425.320.519.013.321.9
A summary of the frequency answers to NARS que can be seen in
the following tables.
These tables show the distributions of the different answers for
each item.
In the paper you can see the distributions of the different
answers for each item organized by groups defined by age.
It is possible to see differences in the attitudes towards
robots between the students answers depending on the age group.
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Data analysisLevene SigNHNBXHXBtItem
10.328961141.010.7881.040.733-0.3180.751Item
20.408961140.600.8520.750.935-1.1680.244Item
30.733961140.610.8380.710.849-0.8210.413Item
40.735961140.470.7940.440.8280.2410.810Item
50.726961140.190.5290.200.6130.1110.911Item
60.412961140.360.7960.420.797-0.5120.609Item
70.088961140.800.8780.450.8132.9960.003Item
80.186961140.070.8241.130.901-0.4970.620Item
90.827961141.110.7800.970.8251.2640.208Item
100.593961140.930.9760.890.9630.3420.810Item
110.092961141.130.8660.990.8001.1670.244Item
120.005961141.220.6991.160.5600.401Item
130.094961141.190.8501.250.738-0.6100.542
Results of the comparison of average values for the group that
has a human teacher and the one that has Baxter for NARS Items
Table shows the results of the statistical analysis of the NARS
(Items 1-13) answers when comparing the human lectured group vs.
the robot lectured one.
It also includes statistics about the number of students that
interacts with the human teacher and with Baxter Robot, the average
value of the item for each group, the standard deviation, the
contrast variable and the bilateral signification.
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Results87-89% do not feel very nervous just standing in front of
a robot .Interaction with Robots47-48% are not especially worried
about the future role of robots in our society.Social Influence of
Robots43-48% feel comforted being with robots that have
emotions.Emotional Interactions with Robots
Now we can see the results about the NARS questionnaire.
First we analyse the Interaction with the robot. In this case
most of the students feel comfortable interacting with robots.
It should be noted that most of the students assert they do not
feel very nervous just standing in front of a robot.
About the social influence of robots, the results show that
students are not especially worried about the future role of robots
in our society or about how they would evolve.
In the case of emotional interaction with robots, the students
feel comforted being with robots that have emotions. This could be
caused by cultural influence.13
ResultsStudents seem not to be worried about the behavior of
robots during a conversation.Communication with RobotsYounger
students seems to worry when they are interacting with
robots.Robots BehaviorYounger students are more worried about
talking properly with robots than older ones.Robots Discourse
The results about the RAS questionnaire about the communication
with robots show that students seem not to be worried about the
behavior of robots during a conversation, or if they are
understanding what we are telling to them.
About robots behavior and how robots move, the strong they are,
or what they are going to do when you are interacting with them
seems to worry younger students.
Finally about robots discourse, the percentages of answers for
this group are balanced in most ages, although it is possible to
see that younger students are more worried about talking properly
with robots than older ones.
This can be explained because they have interacted less with
technology in school and because they have less knowledge about the
possible ways to talk with a robot.
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Conclusion
In conclusion, we have found some differences that we attribute
to the ignorance about how real robots work.
When the students interact with a real robot, they are aware of
their current limitations and their fears are alleviated.
The other goals of the paper are related to the factors that
affect the perception of students towards robots. The results
showed low evaluations to robots as teachers.
What will happen in the future? I dont know.
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Conclusion
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