Research topic/aim

Several researchers (e.g., McDonald et al., 2013) have drawn attention to student teachers' challenges in developing profession-specific knowledge in today's organization with theoretical campus courses and work-based training at schools. McDonald et al. have shown a model for developing teacher students’ knowledge in teaching in a learning cycle in four areas:(a) analyzing teaching situations, (b) learning about activities through, e.g., modeling, (c) practicing teaching through micro-teaching, and (d) applying teaching with students in authentic situations. Younger students' mathematical development correlates strongly to their teachers' subject didactic knowledge (Ball et al., 2008). Additionally, micro-teaching develops student teachers' profession-specific knowledge (Pekdağ et al., 2020). This study investigates students' confidence in their ability to teach mathematics and how it changes when they conduct micro-teaching before their practice.

Theoretical framework

The theoretical framework relies on Bandura's theory of self-efficacity (1997), which deals with the individual's beliefs about competence, not teaching ability. However, there is a clear connection between teachers' perceptions of their competence and their students' performance, meaning that confidence in one's ability can guide how one teaches (Caprara et al., 2006).

Methodological design

The study was conducted in one course in mathematics. After lectures, the teachers supported the students to plan their lessons for preschool class students. The lessons were conducted in small groups on campus. Afterward, the students got oral feedback according to a structured observation protocol. The same lessons were later conducted at their practice. Finally, the process was discussed at seminars led by the teacher educators. Data collection has taken place through focus groups to capture the students' experience of micro-teaching and if/how it has changed their confidence in teaching mathematics. Theoretical tools of analysis are four aspects that support the development of self-esteem (Bandura, 1997): (a) staging experiences, (b) vicarious experiences, (c) social persuasion, and (d) physiological and emotional experiences.

Expected conclusions/findings

The students experienced micro-teaching as educational and felt well-prepared before teaching in class. Studying other student's teaching means that the students deepen their knowledge of other areas of mathematics and provide teaching ideas. Continuous feedback on limited content was perceived positively. After completing the micro-teaching process, the students experienced better self-confidence regarding planning, teaching, and teaching in mathematics. Relevance to Nordic educational research To teach teacher students in teaching is a challenge for every teacher educator in all Nordic countries. Therefore, this research on how to support student´s professional knowledge in teaching is interesting and relevant to teaching and teacher education.

There is a growing interest in whether social robots, which are embodied and exhibit human-like behaviour, can be used for teaching and learning. Still, very few studies focus on the teacher’s role. This study focuses on how a teacher acted in a learning-by-teaching activity with 20 children. In this small-scale field experiment, the teacher’s interactions and teaching actions were observed when the teacher scaffolded a learning activity where children played a collaborative digital mathematics game to strengthen their mathematical reasoning and conceptual understanding of arithmetic. When playing, the children were acting as tutors for a tutee, according to the learning-by-teaching principle. In one scenario, the tutee was a younger child; in the other, the tutee was a social robot. Twenty 30-minute game-playing sessions are observed, video-recorded, and transcribed.

The study explores the teacher’s interactions and teaching actions in the two scenarios and discusses the results from the perspective of the teacher’s role, social norms, and teacher digital competence. The interaction and thematic analyses show similarities and characteristic differences in the teacher’s interaction patterns in the two scenarios. The teaching actions are similar on a structural level and differ regarding the types and distribution of teaching actions. In the child-child scenario, the teacher directs most teaching actions to both players, and the actions are didactic (mathematical) scaffolding. In contrast, in the child-robot scenario, the teacher only addresses the tutor, and the scaffolding is socially oriented. Implications for a teaching practice involving social robots as learning companions are discussed regarding teachers’ presence and participation, types of social robot knowledge that go beyond digital competence, and new challenges introduced by using social robots as learning companions in the classroom.

The study contributes new insights into the teacher’s role and actions when teaching with a social robot in a collaborative learning situation, which is relevant for educational research and teaching practice.

Vid matematikutbildningen i lärarprogrammen vid Högskolan Väst (HV) genomförs ett utvecklings- och forskningsprojekt (med flera delstudier) för att stödja lärarstudenter att utveckla specifik yrkeskunskap som förbereder dem för undervisningens komplexitet. Kontexten i den här studien är förskoleklassen, den skolform som ska knyta samman förskolans och skolans pedagogik. I en granskning av undervisningen i förskoleklassen (Skolinspektionen, 2015) framkom att endast en fjärdedel av eleverna får en undervisning som motsvarar läroplanens övergripande mål för kunskaper. Det finns därför ett stort behov av att utveckla undervisningen i förskoleklass. Detta gäller särskilt undervisningen i matematik.

Teoretisk utgångspunkt i projektet är Banduras teori om självtillit i att undervisa (1997). Forskningen behandlar individens föreställningar om sin kompetens och inte den reella undervisningsförmågan. Det finns dock en tydlig koppling mellan lärares uppfattningar om sin kompetens och vad deras elever presterar. I studien undersöker vi lärarstudenters tilltro till deras egen förmåga att undervisa i matematik och hur den förändras när studenterna får genomföra micro-teaching inför sin VFU (Pekdağ et al., 2020).

Studien inleddes med att studenterna fick undervisning i matematik och därefter med handledningsstöd planera en matematiklektion. Lärarutbildare och studentkollegor gav feedback via ett strukturerat observationsprotokoll i ett intilliggande hybridklassrum. Samma undervisningssession genomfördes sedan på VFU där läraren observerade och gav feedback. Datainsamling har skett genom fokusgrupper för att fånga studenternas upplevelse av micro-teaching och om/hur den förändrat deras tillit till att undervisa i matematik. Teoretiskt analysverktyg är fyra aspekter som stöd för utveckling av självtillit (Bandura, 1997).

Generellt upplevde studenterna micro-teaching som lärorikt och vill gärna möta liknande upplägg igen. Kontinuerlig återkoppling på ett begränsat innehåll upplevdes positivt. Studenterna tyckte tekniken med micro-teaching var en bra lärsituation, som blandade teori och praktik samt gav dem nya perspektiv på deras egen undervisning, en “levande kunskap”.

The school's digitalization is an ongoing process that brings new didactic opportunities, but also challenges. Social educational robots entail a complex teaching situation and affect the teacher's role, actions, and responsibilities in the classroom. Through observations in an authentic classroom context, this thesis aims to provide a nuanced and realistic picture of how teaching with social robots can unfold. Social educational robots have previously been explored in different educational contexts, but few studies shed light on the teacher role. Nor is it discussed what new aspects of digital competence become important when teaching with educational technologies that exhibit social behaviour. This thesis studies teacher actions and intended actions in a learning activity where a child collaborates with a social educational robot. In the activity, the robot is designed to act as a learning companion (tutee), the child acts as a teacher (tutor), and sometimes a few peers participate. The study is based on video observations of teachers' dialogues and behaviours in this learning activity, and a total of 25 hours of recorded video material has been analysed. The observations are supplemented with interviews, workshops, and questionnaires, where more teachers reflect on teaching with social robots.

The result shows that social educational robots may contribute to relevant learning situations but also introduce new teacher roles, bringing additional challenges. The teacher's most prominent role in this learning activity is as an interaction mentor, in which the teacher assists the verbal and non-verbal interaction between the child and the robot, such as verbal communication fluency, explaining the robot's behaviour to the child, and maintaining attention.The result also identifies challenges that may emerge if social educational robots are used for teaching and learning. One of these challenges is due to the teacher relating to the robot as a didactic tool as well as a social actor, interchangeably. This duality causes conflicts in the teacher's actions, as the two perspectives call for different behaviours. The thesis also shows that using social educational robots entails new demands for adequate digital competence.

Skolans digitalisering är en pågående process som medför nya didaktiska möjligheter; men också utmaningar. Användningen av social utbildningsrobotar medför en komplex undervisningssituation och påverkar lärarens roll, agerande och ansvar i klassrummet. Denna avhandling strävar efter att, genom observationer i en autentisk klassrumskontext, ge en nyanserad och realistisk bild av hur undervisning med sociala robotar kan ta sig uttryck. Tidigare forskning visar att sociala utbildningsrobotar kan öka elevers motivation och engagemang men även stimulera elevers förmåga till resonemang och problemlösning. Sociala robotar har studerats i olika undervisningskontexter och skolämne men också i olika roller, som exempelvis lärare, lärassistent, lärkamrat eller nybörjare. När sociala robotar designas som lärkamrat bygger det ofta på idéen om learning-by teaching, dvs att barnet lär sig genom att lära ut olika kunskaper och färdigheter till roboten. Dock uppstår det en rad etiska dilemman i samband med lärsituationer som bygger på interaktioner mellan barn och robotar. Tidigare forskning visar också att lärare har en varierad inställning till användningen av sociala utbildningsrobotar men få studier belyser lärarens roll och agerande då sociala robotar används i undervisningen. Inte heller diskuteras vilka nya aspekterav digital kompetens som lärare behöver för att undervisa med utbildningsteknologier som uppvisar ett socialt beteende.

I denna avhandling studeras lärarens agerande i en läraktivitet där ett barn samarbetar med en social utbildningsrobot. Tillsammans spelar barnet och roboten ett digitalt matematikspel på en interaktiv tavla. Roboten är designad till att i aktiviteten agera som en frågvis lärkamrat (tutee) och barnet agerar som lärare (tutor). Under vissa spelsessioner deltar också några kamrater i läraktiviteten. Den genomförda fallstudien baseras framför allt på videoobservationer av lärares dialoger och beteenden i denna läraktivitet, och totalt har över 25 timmar inspelat videomaterial analyserats. Observationerna kompletteras med intervjuer, workshopar och enkäter, där fler lärare ges möjlighet att reflektera över undervisning med sociala robotar. För att bättre förstå lärarens roll och agerande i den givna läraktiviteten användes kulturhistorisk aktivitetsteori som analytisk lins. Avhandlingens resultat innehåller dels en beskrivande syntes av erhållna resultat från de bifogade artiklarna, dels en re-analys av all ingående data.

Syntesen visar att användningen av en social utbildningsrobot kan skapa intressanta och relevanta lärsituationer men visar också att roboten för med sig många utmaningar. Till exempel uppstår en del tekniska problem som medför att läraren behöver agera i rollen som teknisk facilitator. Dock är den mest framträdande lärarrollen i läraktiviteten den som interaktionsmentor. Rollen innebär att läraren assisterar den verbala och icke-verbala interaktionen mellan barnet och roboten. Det handlar i första hand om att hjälpa barnet att få ett flyt in den verbala kommunikationen, förklara robotens frågor och hur roboten tolkar barnens svar på dessa. I andra hand handlar det om att förklara robotens beteende för barnet samt se till att de två spelarna bibehåller varandras uppmärksamhet. Vidare belyser re-analysen andra utmaningar med att använda sociala robotar för undervisning och lärande. En av dessa utmaning grundar sig i att läraren förhåller sig på olika sätt till roboten, dvs att läraren ibland ser på roboten som ett didaktiskt verktyg och ibland på roboten som en social aktör. Denna dualitet medför att konflikter i lärarens agerande uppstår, då de två perspektiven inte alltid är förenliga. Exempelvis handlar det om vilket lärobjekt som ska stå i fokus i läraktiviteten och om vilka sociala normer som är rimliga i ett barn-robot samarbete. Avhandlingen visar också att användningen av sociala utbildningsrobotar ställer nya krav på vad adekvat digital kompetens innebär. En aspekt av kompetensbegreppet är teknisk kompetens, med kunskaper om datasäker och programmering, och en annan aspekt är kritisk kompetens, vilken inkluderar olika etiska dilemman som uppstår om sociala robotar används i undervisningssammanhang. En tredje aspekt är praktisk kompetens, vilken handlar om att själv kunna interagera med sociala undervisningsrobotar, men också om att kunna förstå och nyttja de båda perspektiven på roboten för att uppnå syftet med undervisningen.

Avhandlingen bidrar med utökad kunskap om vilka möjligheter och utmaningar användningen av sociala utbildningsrobotar medför. Dessutom bidrar den till praktiken, vilken får en inblick i vilka nya krav på digital kompetens som växer fram då utbildningsteknologier uppvisar sociala egenskaper och beteende. Avslutningsvis bidar avhandlingen till teorin (CHAT) genom att föreslå ett utvidgat aktivitetssystem med dubbla och alternerande perspektiv på sociala robotar: dels som verktyg, dels som en del av gemenskapen.

The discourses that we create around our present will shape our future. This is particularly true in education where today's students are being equipped to handle and forge the society of tomorrow. One widespread trend sweeping school curricula all over the world is the idea that children and young adults should learn the fundamentals of programming. Increasing efforts are being devoted to this endeavour reaching schools with varying results. Along with these changes in policies and practices, the field of programming education has received growing attention from other stakeholders, not least researchers. The visions and assumptions of those who study and develop this phenomenon are likely to impact its outcome. The purpose of the review is therefore to explore the perceived significance of programming in future society, through the lenses of how researchers frame its introduction in schools. The study was carried out as a literature review surveying open-source journal papers that reported on initiatives related to programming in education in the last five years. The material was collected in a three-step process, including database search, screening, and selection. The search rendered 1089 potentially relevant research papers. Further screening shortened the list to 26 articles featuring 91 individual researchers from 15 different countries. The selected papers were analysed with content analysis to identify codes pertinent to research question, which were later grouped in categories for presentation in this study.

Results show that mainly positive outcomes are anticipated as a consequence of introducing programming in education. The benefits include filling the needs of a future labour market and preparing students for active participation in an increasingly digitalised society. There were also papers emphasising how learning programming could bring improvements in problem-solving and analytical thinking but also provide space for self-expression and creativeness. Programming in education was believed to enhance social interactions and teamwork skills and to boost motivation and intersectional engagement. However, more critical notions regarding the introduction of programming in education were largely absent, which should be addressed in future research. While programming was seen as a way to raise awareness of the risks associated with a digital society, few authors broadened the discussion to include other less beneficial aspects of programming literacy. Researchers' perceptions in the context of programming in education are compared to previous research on 21st century skills. The findings provide a deeper understanding of the expectations that guide contemporary research and should be of interest not only to the research community but also to teachers and policymakers, in an attempt to spark a discussion that will yield more nuanced implementation of this and future educational initiatives.

Human peer tutoring is known to be effective for learning, and social robots are currently being explored for robot-assisted peer tutoring. In peer tutoring, not only the tutee but also the tutor benefit from the activity. Exploiting the learning-by-teaching mechanism, robots as tutees can be a promising approach for tutor learning. This study compares robots and humans by examining children's learning-by-teaching with a social robot and younger children, respectively. The study comprised a small-scale field experiment in a Swedish primary school, following a within-subject design. Ten sixth-grade students (age 12-13) assigned as tutors conducted two 30 min peer tutoring sessions each, one with a robot tutee and one with a third-grade student (age 9-10) as the tutee. The tutoring task consisted of teaching the tutee to play a two-player educational game designed to promote conceptual understanding and mathematical thinking. The tutoring sessions were video recorded, and verbal actions were transcribed and extended with crucial game actions and user gestures, to explore differences in interaction patterns between the two conditions. An extension to the classical initiation-response-feedback framework for classroom interactions, the IRFCE tutoring framework, was modified and used as an analytic lens. Actors, tutoring actions, and teaching interactions were examined and coded as they unfolded in the respective child-robot and child-child interactions during the sessions. Significant differences between the robot tutee and child tutee conditions regarding action frequencies and characteristics were found, concerning tutee initiatives, tutee questions, tutor explanations, tutee involvement, and evaluation feedback. We have identified ample opportunities for the tutor to learn from teaching in both conditions, for different reasons. The child tutee condition provided opportunities to engage in explanations to the tutee, experience smooth collaboration, and gain motivation through social responsibility for the younger child. The robot tutee condition provided opportunities to answer challenging questions from the tutee, receive plenty of feedback, and communicate using mathematical language. Hence, both conditions provide good learning opportunities for a tutor, but in different ways.

Social robots are increasingly being studied in educational roles, including as tutees inlearning-by-teaching applications. To explore the benefits and drawbacks of using robots in this way, it is important to study how robot tutees compare to traditional learning-by-teaching situations.

In this paper, we report the results of a within-subjects field experiment that compared a robot tutee to a human tutee in a Swedish primary school. Sixth-grade students participated in the study as tutors in a collaborative mathematics game where they were responsible for teaching a robot tutee as well as a third-grade student in two separate sessions. Their teacher was present to provide support and guidance for both sessions. Participants’ perceptions of the interactions were then gathered through a set of quantitative instruments measuring their enjoyment and willingness to interact with the tutees again, communication and collaboration with the tutees, their understanding of the task, sense of autonomy as tutors, and perceived learning gains for tutor and tutee.

The results showed that the two scenarios were comparable with respect to enjoyment and willingness to play again, as well as perceptions of learning gains. However, significant differences were found for communication and collaboration, which participants considered easier with a human tutee. They also felt significantly less autonomous in their roles as tutors with the robot tutee as measured by their stated need for their teacher’s help. Participants further appeared to perceive the activity as somewhat clearer and working better when playing with the human tutee.

These findings suggest that childrencan enjoy engaging in peer tutoring with a robot tutee. However, the interactive capabilities of robots will need to improve quite substantially before they can potentially engage in autonomous and unsupervised interactions with children.

There is a growing interest in exploring how social robots can be used for teaching and learning and robots are now studied in a variety of subjects. When robots are used for teaching, they are often assigned a role with a social character appropriate for the intended learning activity. This study focuses on a learning activity where a child plays a digital mathematics game together with a social robot in a middle school classroom. The activity is based on the idea of learning-by-teaching, where the robot has been designed as a tutee and the child is assigned the role of tutor. Through interviews and questionnaires, the children’s, and the teacher's experiences of the learning activity were captured. How does the social robot perform as a tool for teaching and learning? How should the activity be organized and how should the teacher act?

The study shows that the children think that the robot can express itself verbally and ask appropriate questions. They experience it as a social and fun co-player. However, the robot has several limitations, where difficulties in verbal communication are the most characteristic, such as language recognition, timing, and strange comments. In addition, children react negatively to the robot losing attention to the child and not being able to play the game properly. Moreover, the children think that the activity can be carried out both individually and in groups but consider that the teacher must be in the classroom to explain the activity and above all, to support the child-robot interaction both verbally and technically.

In many ways, the teacher expresses similar thoughts as the children. The robot engages students and through its questions, the robot makes them reflect and communicate mathematics. As the robot gives students continuous responses, students become more persistent in their learning. The teacher also mentions problems with verbal child-robot communication. The students need to speak loud and clear with reasonably long sentences and the right timing. In addition, the teacher experiences technical problems, such as the players losing contact with each other.

The teacher considers the activity challenging to carry out in a classroom partly because background noise interferes with the robot interaction and partly because the activity is not suitable for all students. The teacher also mentions the importance of introducing the game and declaring the purpose of the activity, since it may be hard for students to focus on the game and the robot simultaneously. If using the activity in teaching, the teacher imagines that [s]he needs to support the child-robot interaction, i.e., repeat and explain the robot's questions and help the child with what, how, and when to answer the robot. Besides, the teacher may also help with mathematics and encourage strategies and detailed explanations. Unlike the children, the teacher thinks that the activity enables opportunities for assessment of the playing students.

Finally, the study also revealed some ethical dilemmas with using social robots in educational contexts. It was partly about renegotiating prevailing social norms and partly about the deception of assigning a tool human characteristic. Together with the technical and didactic experiences of teaching and learning with social robots, the study provided an insight into a[n] [in]possible future.