University/Organization
Prizztech, Ltd, Pori, Finland
School of History, Culture and Arts Studies, (Degree Program of) Cultural Production and Landscape Studies. University of Turku Finland
Title
Social and Emotional Learning with a Robot Dog: Technology, Empathy and Playful Learning in Kindergarten
Synopsis
Robotic ‘pets,’ technological emulations of companion animals, have become increasingly complex and broadly disseminated to teaching empathy. They are part of a trend toward anthropomorphized social robots, computer technology embedded within forms that emulate biological entities (Melson et al. 2009). The goal of this study is to investigate potential links between empathy development and social and emotional learning when using a robot dog (Golden Pup) as an educational tool in the Kindergarten context.