The Effects of a Classroom-Based AI Robot-Assisted Teaching Intervention on Preschool Children's Behavior and Emotions: A Quasi-Experimental Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64229/cm5rpk37Keywords:
Artificial intelligence, Robot-assisted teaching, Preschool children, Behavioral development, Emotional regulationAbstract
The purpose of this study is to investigate how preschoolers' behavioral and emotional development is affected by artificial intelligence (AI) robot-assisted instruction. Children from a middle-class kindergarten in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China, participated in the study. A non-equivalent pre-test-post-test Class A was used in a quasi-experimental approach. While the Class A received traditional teacher-led training, the Class B received a three-week interactive teaching intervention utilizing the AI robot "Beiya." Children's abilities in four areas-emotional regulation, school preparedness, social confidence, and family involvement-were assessed using the Preschool Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale (PreBERS). According to the findings, the Class B outperformed the Class A in every category following the intervention, with improvements in social confidence and emotional control being especially noteworthy. According to these results, AI robots may help foster prosocial behavior and emotional growth in preschoolers. The study offers factual evidence in favor of using AI in early childhood education.
References
[1]Denham SA, Bassett HH, Zinsser K, Wyatt TM. How preschoolers’ social-emotional learning predicts their early school success: Developing theory-promoting, competency-based assessments. Infant and Child Development, 2014, 23(4), 426-454. DOI: 10.1002/icd.1840
[2]Darling-Churchill KE, Lippman L. Early childhood social and emotional development: Advancing the field of measurement. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 2016, 45, 1-7. DOI: 10.1016/j.appdev.2016.02.002
[3]Di Maggio R, Zappulla C, Pace U, Izard CE. Adopting the emotions course in the Italian context: A pilot study to test effects on social-emotional competence in preschool children. Child Indicators Research, 2017, 10(2), 571-590. DOI: 10.1007/s12187-016-9387-x
[4]Kiernan KE, Huerta MC. Economic deprivation, maternal depression, parenting and children’s cognitive and emotional development in early childhood 1. The British Journal of Sociology, 2008, 59(4), 783-806. DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-4446.2008.00219.x
[5]Ewing ESK, Herres J, Dilks KE, Rahim F, Trentacosta CJ. Understanding of emotions and empathy: Predictors of positive parenting with preschoolers in economically stressed families. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 2019, 28(5), 1346-1358. DOI: 10.1007/s10826-018-01303-6
[6]van der Pol LD, Groeneveld MG, Endendijk JJ, van Berkel SR, Hallers-Haalboom ET, Bakermans-Kranenburg MJ, et al. Associations between fathers’ and mothers’ psychopathology symptoms, parental emotion socialization, and preschoolers’ social-emotional development. Journal of child and family studies, 2016, 25(11), 3367-3380. DOI: 10.1007/s10826-016-0490-x
[7]Powell D, Dunlap G. Evidence-based social emotional curricula and intervention packages for children 0-5 years and their families. Roadmap to effective intervention practices# 2. Technical Assistance Center on Social Emotional Intervention for Young Children. 2009.
[8]Erikson EH. Childhood and society. W. W. Norton & Company, 1950.
[9]Hemmeter ML, Ostrosky M, Fox L. Social and emotional foundations for early learning: A conceptual model for intervention. School Psychology Review, 2006, 35(4), 583-601. DOI: 10.1080/02796015.2006.12087963
[10]Johnson AM, Hawes DJ, Eisenberg N, Kohlhoff J, Dudeney J. Emotion socialization and child conduct problems: A comprehensive review and meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 2017, 54, 65-80. DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2017.04.001
[11]Durlak JA, Weissberg RP, Dymnicki AB, Taylor RD, Schellinger KB. The impact of enhancing students’ social and emotional learning: A metaanalysis of schoolbased universal interventions. Child Development, 2011, 82(1), 405-432. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01564.x
[12]Spinrad TL, Eisenberg N. Empathy, prosocial behavior, and positive development in schools. In R. Gilman, E. S. Huebner, & M. J. Furlong (Eds.), Handbook of positive psychology in schools, Taylor & Francis, 2014, 82-98.
[13]Williams KE, Berthelsen D. The development of prosocial behaviour in early childhood: Contributions of early parenting and self-regulation. International Journal of Early Childhood, 2017, 49(1), 73-94. DOI: 10.1007/s13158-017-0185-5
[14]Poletaeva EP, Merzlyakova EV. Emotions in the preschool child’s development. Molodoy Uchenyy Young Scientist, 2018, 49, 290-293. (in Russian).
[15]Bavelier D, Green CS. Enhancing attentional control: Lessons from action video games. Neuron, 2019, 104(1), 147-163. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2019.09.031
[16]Breaux RP, Harvey EA, Lugo-Candelas CI. The role of parent psychopathology in emotion socialization. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 2016, 44(4), 731-743. DOI: 10.1007/s10802-015-0062-3
[17]Eurenius E, Richter Sundberg L, Vaezghasemi M, Silfverdal SA, Ivarsson A, Lindkvist M. Social-emotional problems among three-year-olds differ based on the child’s gender and custody arrangement. Acta Paediatrica, 2019, 108(6), 1087-1095. DOI: 10.1111/apa.14668
[18]Rios-Habib, J. Social skills training for children in the UAE. Mental health and psychological practice in the United Arab Emirates, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, 211-222. DOI: 10.1057/9781137558237_19
[19]Unicef. Al in Middle East and North Africa out-of-school children initiative, Sudan Ministry of Education, Sudan country report on out-of-school children. UNICEF Sudan Country Office, 2015.
[20]Sprayberry F. Embedding social and emotional learning in Pre-K classrooms. Dimensions of Early Childhood, 2024, 52(2), 8-15.
[21]Latorre-Medina MJ, Abdelmaula-Mesaud S. Artificial intelligence applied to early childhood education: A focus for educational research? Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 2025, 26(1), 140-153. DOI: 10.1177/14639491241303746
[22]de Swart F, Burk WJ, Nelen WBL, van Efferen E, van der Stege H, Scholte RHJ. Social competence and relationships for students with emotional and behavioral disorders. Journal of Special Education, 2023, 56(4), 225-236. DOI: 10.1177/00224669221105838
[23]Hao KT. How good is a good picture book. GRIMM Press, 2006.
[24]Cheng YT, Chen MC, Lin MH, Chuang CC, Chen TL. Research on prosocial behavior of children in play. Journal of National Taichung University of Science and Technology, 2020, 7(2), 127-150. DOI: 10.6902/JNTUST.202012_7(2).0007
[25]Vandewater EA, Rideout VJ, Wartella EA, Huang X, Lee JH, Shim MS. Digital childhood electronic media and technology use among infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. Pediatrics, 2007, 119(5), E1006-E1015. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2006-1804
[26]Linebarger DL, Piotrowski JT. TV as storyteller: How exposure to television narratives impacts at‐risk preschoolers’ story knowledge and narrative skills. The British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 2009, 27, 47-69. DOI: 10.1348/026151008x400445
[27]Christakis DA, Garrison MM, Herrenkohl T, Haggerty K, Rivara FP, Zhou C, et al. Modifying media content for preschool children: A randomized controlled trial. Pediatrics, 2013, 131(3), 431-438. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2012-1493
[28]Peou C. Cambodia’s broadcast TV: Promotion of consumerist desires. Asia Europe Journal, 2009, 7, 417-431. DOI: 10.1007/s10308-009-0234-2
[29]Mayer RE. Cognitive theory of multimedia learning. The Cambridge handbook of multimedia learning, Cambridge University Press, 2005, 31-48. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511816819.004
[30]Weinberger N, Anderson T, Schumacher P. Young children’s access and use of computers in family child care and child care centers. Computers in Human Behavior, 2009, 25(1), 183-190. DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2008.08.003
[31]Akyar BC, Monteiro A, Fernandes P. Exploring Portuguese preschool educators’ attitudes and practices on information and communication technology (ICT). Education and Information Technologies, 2024, 29(15), 19299-19320. DOI: 10.1007/s10639-024-12613-2
[32]Adams MJ. Technology for developing children’s language and literacy: Bringing speech recognition to the classroom. The Joan Ganz Cooney Center, 2011.
[33]Zhang WJ. Let infant children apply computers to create digital stories: An action research on scaffolding story-telling ability in preschool children with delayed oral language (Master’s thesis, Department of Early Childhood Education, National Taichung University of Education). 2010.
[34]Mubin O, Stevens CJ, Shahid S, Al Mahmud A, Dong JJ. A review of the applicability of robots in education. Technology for Education and Learning, 2013, 1, 1-7. DOI: 10.2316/Journal.209.2013.1.209-0015
[35]Belpaeme T, Kennedy J, Ramachandran A, Scassellati B, Tanaka F. Social robots for education: A review. Science Robotics, 2018, 3(21), eaat5954. DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.aat5954
[36]Epstein MH, Synhorst L. Preschool Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale (PreBERS) (TestRetest and InterRater Reliability). Journal of Child and Family Studies, 2008, 17, 853-862. DOI: 10.1007/s10826-008-9194-1
[37]Djamnezhad D, Koltcheva N, Dizdarevic A, Mujezinovic A, Peixoto C, Coelho V, et al. Social and emotional learning in preschool settings: A systematic map of systematic reviews. Frontiers in Education, 2021, 6, 1-11. DOI: 10.3389/feduc.2021.691670
[38]Hosokawa R, Matsumoto Y, Nishida C, Funato K, Mitani A. Enhancing social-emotional skills in early childhood: Intervention study on the effectiveness of social and emotional learning. BMC Psychology, 2024, 12, 761. DOI: 10.1186/s40359-024-02280-w
[39]Latorre-Medina MJ, Abdelmaula-Mesaud S. Artificial intelligence applied to early childhood education: A focus for educational research? Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 2025, 26(1), 140-153. DOI: 10.1177/14639491241303746
[40]Mayer RE. The past, present, and future of the cognitive theory of multimedia learning. Educational Psychology Review, 2024, 36(8), 44. DOI: 10.1007/s10648-023-09842-1
[41]Neumann MM, Koch LC, Zagami J, Reilly D, Neumann DL. Preschool children’s engagement with a social robot compared to a human instructor. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 2023, 65, 332-341. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2023.07.010
[42]Silkenbeumer J, Lüken LM, Holodynski M, Kärtner J. Emotion socialization in early childhood education and care - How preschool teachers support children’s emotion regulation. Social and Emotional Learning: Research, Practice, and Policy, 2024, 4, 100057. DOI: 10.1016/j.sel.2024.100057
[43]Fang JW, Ji TT, Tu YF, Hwang GJ, Zou D, Chen J. Effects of a human-robot collaborative teaching approach on preschoolers’ social-emotional competence and learning behaviors. Computers & Education. 2026, 240, 105469. DOI: 10.1016/j.compedu.2025.105469
[44]Creswell JW. Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed approaches (4th ed.). Sage, 2013.
[45]Kuo SY. Psychological and educational measurement. Jing-Hua Bookstore, 1998.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Yuxi Zhang, Intan Farahana Binti Kamsin (Author)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.