The NSF-funded research project led by Javier Movellan at the University of California, San Diego will develop a social network (?RubiNet?) for early childhood education. The network will help integrate the activities of children, teachers, parents, and researchers with the goal of improving early childhood education at a national and international level. RubiNet will use low-cost sociable robots to connect children and teachers in different classrooms, from different socioeconomic backgrounds, cultures, and ethnicities. Some of the classrooms will be in different countries. Movellan and his colleagues will investigate the potential of RubiNet as a tool for rapid design and evaluation of low cost early intervention programs. The potential for RubiNet to improve academic skills in young children will be assessed. The researchers will also investigate whether this form of interaction engenders more familiarity and positivity in children's views of those who are different from themselves.
An unprecedented number of children in the US start public school with major deficits in basic skills, including social skills, language, and mathematics. Children that experience early failure in school are more likely to later become inattentive, disruptive, or disengaged. These students tend to drop out of school early, and are more likely to depend on public assistance programs for survival. Empirical research suggests that the key to avoiding this vicious cycle is to intervene during the pre-kindergarten years instead of waiting until failures occur in kindergarten or later. Unfortunately, early intervention programs are typically very costly. Thus, another key goal of RubiNet is to significantly lower the cost of intervention in early education. In addition, RubiNet will be of great potential benefit to researchers who study social interaction in young children.
