Curious Conversations

It is critical to provide opportunities for young children to engage in meaningful conversations about science to foster long-term interest and curiosity in science-related topics. However, many elementary school students spend limited time learning about their favorite science topics in their classrooms. Although many platforms aim to provide informal learning experiences for children at home, they fail to promote a two-way conversation. 

Curious Conversations enables children to engage in science-related discussions to enhance their learning experiences. Our platform leverages voice-based agents in households to engage learners in science-related content. We would first introduce children of ages 8-12 years of age to an icebreaker question that informs them about their career in space through our platform. Then they would be able to read a story with their social partner, 'Trazo', and answer questions that would help them reflect and finally engage in sentimental analysis questions and drawing activity towards the end of the story. 

We hope to measure the students' engagement through our process by the duration of interaction, responses to the questions, and excitement level while talking to Trazo. A prototype of this product has been tested with several students both in-person and online to get the different interactions based on the research settings. Our research demonstrates that young children learn best when they have opportunities to have meaningful conversations with their social partners with whom they feel comfortable engaging about their interests.