Investigating Interactions between Students with Mild Mental Retardation and Humanoid Robot in Terms of Feedback Types

Abstract

In Turkey and the world, some studies are carried out to support student’s cognitive and social development with activities such as robot competitions and robot camps. Additionally, technological materials for robot-aided learning environment have started to become widespread. Robot-aided applications can provide multimedia as well as interactions such as motion, appearance, and touch to the learners. Because of these abilities, robots have an important potential especially for education of mentally retarded students. The studies, in which activities including feedbacks given by humanoid robots are designed and applied, will make contributions to this area for revealing the potential and improving the effective applications like integration of technology into the field of education and the creation of innovative learning environments. The purpose of this study was to examine interactions of students with mild mental retardation in terms of feedback types in the robot-assisted learning environment, analyse participations of students with mild mental retardation in this environment activities and compare the investigation of interactions in terms of feedback types. In this way, it was aimed to create design proposals for feedback types in robot-assisted learning environment to be designed for students with mental disability. Humanoid robot assisted activities prepared according to ASSURE instructional design method. This study was conducted in six sessions on six students with mild mental retardation who were registered in the Guidance and Research Centre (GRC). Being one of the qualitative research methods, case study was used in this study. In the study, data were gathered by carrying out interviews and observations. In order to reach the notions and correlations explaining the data, the methods of content analysis and descriptive analysis were used. In this study, it was observed that the students met the humanoid robot’s feedbacks pleasantly and excitedly, they commented and responded amusedly. The use of feedbacks in this study drew the students’ attentions and increased their motivation. However, there were differences in terms of reaction types in their reactions to the robot’s feedback. While feedbacks considered as the most remarkable and interacting by the students were arm, bodily and voice feedbacks, the least responded feedbacks were head movement feedbacks and feedbacks formed through the robot’s screen.  As a result of interviews made with the teachers, it was specified that humanoid robot make positive contributions to the student motivation and teaching of the lesson. The teachers stated that according to general evaluation forms and the results of their measurements, robot-aided education was useful and helpful at the classroom management, provided quick and permanent learning, and increased motivation and participation of activities.