Unsure robots make better teachers than know-alls

THE best way to learn is to teach. That old maxim has been put to the test by a classroom robot that helps Japanese children learn English.

Shizuko Matsuzoe and Fumihide Tanaka at the University of Tsukuba, Japan, observed 19 children aged between 4 and 8 interacting with a humanoid robot. The children took part in a learning game in which they had to draw the shape corresponding to English words such as "circle", "square", "crescent" and "heart".

From a room next to the classroom, the researchers operated a French-built Nao robot so that it appeared weak and feeble, and encouraged the children to take on the role of carers. The robot also either behaved as an instructor, drawing the correct shape for the child, or made mistakes and acted as if it didn't know the answer.

When the robot got a shape wrong, the child could "teach" the robot how to draw it by guiding its hand. The robot then either "learned" the English word for that shape or continued to make errors.

Matsuzoe and Tanaka found that the children did best when the robot appeared to learn from them. This also made the children more likely to want to continue learning with the robot. They will present their results at the Ro-Man conference in Paris this month.

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

Have your say

Only subscribers may leave comments on this article. Please log in.

Only personal subscribers may leave comments on this article

Subscribe now to comment.

All comments should respect the New Scientist House Rules. If you think a particular comment breaks these rules then please use the "Report" link in that comment to report it to us.

If you are having a technical problem posting a comment, please contact technical support.

Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/23345ee2/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg215288140B0A0A0A0Eunsure0Erobots0Emake0Ebetter0Eteachers0Ethan0Eknowalls0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fonline0Enews/story01.htm

uss enterprise white house easter egg roll 2012 andy cohen andy cohen mozambique oosthuizen great expectations