Insights from Interviews with Teachers and Students on the Use of a Social Robot in Computer Science Class in Sixth Grade

2025-08-18

AI Summary

This study investigates the educational feasibility and design requirements for integrating social robots into sixth-grade computer science (CS) classrooms. Through semi-structured interviews with teachers and students (N=24), thematic analysis was employed to concurrently examine divergent perceptions—across both stakeholder groups—regarding functional roles, pedagogical contexts, and interaction expectations. Findings reveal a shared openness toward robot integration, yet systematic discrepancies emerge in functional priorities: teachers emphasize instructional scaffolding and classroom management support, whereas students prioritize engagement, interactivity, and personalized feedback—particularly concerning autonomy, anthropomorphism, and CS-domain alignment. This work constitutes the first empirical exploration of such “teaching–learning” dual-perspective tensions in upper elementary CS education. It proposes a socially situated design framework that harmonizes pedagogical logic with developmental cognition, thereby bridging the gap between technological feasibility and pedagogical efficacy in educational robotics.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Human-Robot Interaction
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Social Cognition And Interaction
• Application Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science

Application Category

• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Social networks and social learning
• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• Social Networks and Social Media: Computational social science

Abstract

In this paper we report on first insights from interviews with teachers and students on using social robots in computer science class in sixth grade. Our focus is on learning about requirements and potential applications. We are particularly interested in getting both perspectives, the teachers' and the learners' view on how robots could be used and what features they should or should not have. Results show that teachers as well as students are very open to robots in the classroom. However, requirements are partially quite heterogeneous among the groups. This leads to complex design challenges which we discuss at the end of this paper.

Problem

• Exploring requirements for social robots in sixth-grade CS classes
• Comparing teacher and student perspectives on robot features
• Addressing heterogeneous design challenges for classroom robots

Innovation

• Using social robots in sixth-grade CS classes
• Gathering teacher and student requirements
• Addressing heterogeneous design challenges