The positive effects of verbal encouragement in mathematics education using a social robot

Studies have shown that the use of verbal encouragement strategies in education is able to maximize learning. This idea is derived from traditional classroom settings where teachers use a multitude of behavioral strategies to maintain the students' level of engagement. Motivated by these educational practices, we discuss the use of a Socially Interactive Robotic Tutor (SIRT) that incorporates a variety of verbal cues into multiple math learning scenarios. In this paper, we present the robotic tutor, the methods used to engage students in the learning scenario, and results from integrating the robotic tutor in the classroom environment. Results derived from 44 students engaging with SIRT during a tablet-based math test show that, when compared to non-interactive methods, verbal cues are able to increase and/or maintain student engagement regardless of student age and math content level.