Children's solving of 'Tower of Hanoi' tasks: dynamic testing with the help of a robot

Abstract

The present study investigated the usefulness of a pre-programmed, teleoperated, socially assistive peer robot in dynamictesting of complex problem solving utilising the Tower of Hanoi.The robot, in a ‘Wizard of Oz’ setting, provided instructions andprompts during dynamic testing to children when they had tosolve 3 D Tower of Hanoi puzzles. Participants were 37 secondgrade 8-year-old children, of whom half received graduatedprompts training between pre-test and post-test, delivered by therobot, and half did not. It was found that children’s progressionin task accuracy varied considerably, depending on whether ornot children were trained in solving Tower puzzles. Trained children showed greater progression in the number of Tower problems that they could solve accurately, made considerably fewersteps, although the Tower puzzles increased quickly in difficultylevel. The mean completion time of trained children decreased ata slower rate than that of the untrained children, but both groupsof children took considerably more time to think and plan aheadbefore they started the solving process. Only moderate relationswith planning behaviour were found. In general, the studyrevealed that computerised dynamic testing with a robot asassistant has much potential in unveiling children’s potential forlearning and their ways of tackling complex problems. The advantages and challenges of using a robot in educational assessmentwere discussed.