Answer Key: A Good Robot Teacher

Lesson Plan: “The Secret to a Good Robot Teacher”

II. While Reading Activities

Word Inference

  1. cognitive |ˈkäɡnədiv|adjective of or relating to cognition. cognition noun–the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses.• a result of this; a perception, sensation, notion, or intuition.
  2. erroneous |əˈrōnēəs| adjective-wrong; incorrect: employers sometimes make erroneous assumptions.
  3. virtual |ˈvərCH(o͞o)əl| adjective-• Computing not physically existing as such but made by software to appear to do so: a virtual computer. See also virtual reality.
  4. Social cue –A social cue can either be a verbal or non-verbal hint, which can be positive or negative. These cues guide conversation and other social interactions. A few examples of social cues include: facial expression. Wikipedia
  5. expression |ikˈspreSHən|-noun-the conveying of feeling in the face or voice, in a work of art, or in the performance of a piece of music: eyes empty of expression | their instruments have a rich variety of expression.
  6. gauge |ɡāj| verb [ with obj. ] estimate or determine the magnitude, amount, or volume of: astronomers can gauge the star’s intrinsic brightness.
  7. interact |ˌin(t)ərˈakt| verb –act in such a way as to have an effect on another; act reciprocally: all the stages in the process interact | the user interacts directly with the library.
  8. experiment noun |ikˈsperəmənt| a scientific procedure undertaken to make a discovery, test a hypothesis, or demonstrate a known fact: laboratory experiments on guinea pigs | I have tested this by experiment.
  9. upshot |ˈəpˌSHät| noun [ in sing. ] the final or eventual outcome or conclusion of a discussion, action, or series of events: the upshot of the meeting was that he was on the next plane to New York.
  10. concentration |ˌkänsənˈtrāSH(ə)n| noun-the action or power of focusing one’s attention or mental effort: frowning in concentration | the worker needs total concentration.

Reading Comprehension

True /False/NA-Statements

  1. F– Lumosity, agreed to pay $2 million to settle charges.
  2. T-Designers of these technologies rely on an erroneous set of assumptions about how the mind learns.
  3. T-The human brain has evolved to take in, analyze and store information in a specific way.
  4. F-A study was conducted with 4- to 7-year-old children from schools in Boston.
  5. T-In general children responded more to the robot with the  animated face.
  6. F-Testers had the children retell the story to a puppet immediately afterward.
  7. T-Children who interacted with the expressive robot showed greater levels of concentration.
  8. NA-This test proved that children will grow up to like robots.
  9. T-According to the researchers, there’s more to learning than just listening and remembering.
  10. NA-Another study was conducted with  adults.

Grammar: Fillins

Toward the end of the experiment, a new animal appeared, affording kids the opportunity to ask questions and learn about it. Here, 82 percent of the children chose to seek information about the new animal from the properly expressive robot as opposed to its partner. What’s more, even when both robots offered information about the new animal, the children were significantly more likely to believe the information from the expressive one.