Browsing by Author "Sulkunen, Solja"

Social robotics is a fast developing form of technology. Its research has spread into the field of education and it shows promising results about social robotics as a form of technology that supports learning. However, its capabilities to operate as a learning supportive interaction partner has not been studied much. The purpose of this research is to examine the usability of social robotics in improving children’s social skills. Social skills are seen to construct from inter-relational skills, emotion related skills and planning- and decision making skills (Kalliopuska 1995; Wicksted, Morrison & Bellack 2012). In this research the usability of social robotics is evaluated through the operating areas of a sociocultural expert based on the views of Wood, Bruner & Ross (1976) and Spence (2003). The purpose of an expert is to be an agent that supports its interaction partner’s learning and helps the partner to operate on his/her zone of proximal development. For this research ten scientific social robotics related studies were analyzed. In the studies social robots were used to help children improve their social skills. The research is a combination of integrative literature review and a metasynthesis (Salminen 2011). A structural framework created especially for this study was used to analyze the research material. This is typical when conducting a content analysis (Tuomi & Sarajärvi 2004). The research results are that social robots are capable of operating in multiple fields of a sociocultural expert but not fully autonomously. The expertise is strongest when working with young children who have deficits in basic social skills. What is notable is that the presence of a social robot induced spontaneous speaking, eye-contacts and shared attention between a child and an adult or another child. To be able to operate as an expert with older and socially more skilled children the social robot should be able to adjust its operations autonomously according to its interaction partner’s level of social skills. As a conclusion it is to say that social robots cannot yet replace a teacher as an educator but can be used to support the development of social skills and other types of learning. Being able to operate partially as a sociocultural expert social robot can be seen as a highly competitive option in improving children’s social skills compared to other tools and methods used.