Exploring Preschoolers’ Engagement with Intelligent Agents (IA) Mediated by IA Features and Teacher Scaffolding

As intelligent agents (IAs) become increasingly integrated into young children's lives, it is crucial to understand how children perceive and interact with these technologies.We designed and implemented an IA-centered curriculum in a PreK classroom featuring three robots (GO1, Spot1, and Astro).We apply interaction analysis to unpack how IAs and teachers' scaffolding facilitate children's understanding of technology.Our findings reveal that IA features (e.g., appearance, functionality, and intelligence levels), combined with teacher facilitation strategies (e.g., revoicing, explicit explanation, and thoughtful questioning), act as mediators shaping children's conceptual understanding and interactions with IAs.These mediations foster young children's sensory exploration, reasoning, and adaptive behaviors with technology.We recommend that future designers incorporate diverse IA features to enhance young children's learning opportunities about technology and its limitations.We also encourage educators to thoughtfully integrate IAs into teaching practices to support young children's developmentally appropriate growth in this increasingly digital society.