Use of Social and Educational Robots in Early Childhood and Elementary Education Teaching-Learning Processes: A Scoping Review
Resumo
This scoping review synthesizes robot-assisted education for children aged 3–12. Analyzing 27 empirical studies (2020–2025), we examine platforms, emotional effects, and learning domains. Findings show a reliance on costly commercial humanoids and high student motivation, but limited evidence for sustained cognitive gains. Research primarily targets STEM and literacy, varying between educational levels. However, the field suffers from small samples, brief interventions, and weak theoretical grounding. This review emphasizes the need for inclusive, methodologically robust, and pedagogically grounded research that prioritizes accessibility and equity.
Palavras-chave:
Social robots, Educational robotics, Early childhood education, Affective engagement, Scoping review
Referências
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Cagiltay, B., Mutlu, B., e Michaelis, J. E. (2023). "my unconditional homework buddy:" exploring children's preferences for a homework companion robot. In Proceedings of the 22nd Annual ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference, IDC '23, page 375–387, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery.
Ekström, S., Pareto, L., e Ljungblad, S. (2024). Teaching in a collaborative mathematic learning activity with and without a social robot. Education and Information Technologies, 30:1301–1328.
Elgarf, M., Salam, H., e Peters, C. (2024). Fostering children's creativity through llm-driven storytelling with a social robot. Frontiers in Robotics and AI, 11:1457429.
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Kim, Y., Marx, S., Pham, H., e Nguyen, T. (2021). Designing for robot-mediated interaction among culturally and linguistically diverse children. Educational Technology Research and Development, 69:1–22.
Konijn, E., Jansen, B., Bustos, V., Hobbelink, V., e Vanegas, D. (2022). Social robots for (second) language learning in (migrant) primary school children. International Journal of Social Robotics, 14:1–17.
Konijn, E. A. e Hoorn, J. F. (2020). Robot tutor and pupils' educational ability: Teaching the times tables. Computers & Education, 157:103970.
Kouroupa, A., Laws, K. R., Irvine, K., Mengoni, S. E., Baird, A., e Sharma, S. (2022). The use of social robots with children and young people on the autism spectrum: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLOS ONE, 17(6):e0269800.
Neumann, M. M., Koch, L.-C., Zagami, J., Reilly, D., e Neumann, D. L. (2023). Preschool children's engagement with a social robot compared to a human instructor. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 65:332–341.
Peters, M., Marnie, C., Tricco, A., Pollock, D., Alexander, L., Mcinerney, P., Godfrey, C., e Khalil, H. (2021). Updated methodological guidance for the conduct of scoping reviews. JBI evidence implementation, 19:3–10.
Sena, M. K. B. e Paradeda, R. B. (2025). Supplementary table: Studies included in the review — robots in early childhood education. [link]. Comprehensive, year-by-year list of studies included in the scope review.
Sokolonski, A., de Sá, A., e Macêdo, R. (2020). Robótica educacional como facilitadora do aprendizado do raciocínio computacional: Revisão sistemática da literatura. In Anais do XXXI Simpósio Brasileiro de Informática na Educação (SBIE 2020), pages 1503–1512.
Souza, A., Sousa, C., Torres, D., e Paradeda, R. (2024). Roboldo: An affective robot for empathetic social interactions in education. In Anais do XVI Simpósio Brasileiro de Robótica e XV Workshop de Robótica na Educação, pages 307–312, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil. SBC.
Tolksdorf, N., Viertel, F., e Rohlfing, K. (2021). Do shy preschoolers interact differently when learning language with a social robot? an analysis of interactional behavior and word learning. Frontiers in Robotics and AI, 8:676123.
Tricco, A., Lillie, E., Zarin, W., O'Brien, K., Colquhoun, H., Levac, D., Moher, D., Peters, M., Weeks, L., Hempel, S., Akl, E., Chang, C., McGowan, J., Stewart, L., Hartling, L., Aldcroft, A., Wilson, M., Garritty, C., e Straus, S. (2018). Prisma extension for scoping reviews (prisma-scr): Checklist and explanation. Annals of Internal Medicine, 169.
van Otterdijk, M. T. H., de Korte, M. W. P., van den Berk-Smeekens, I., Hendrix, J., van Dongen-Boomsma, M., den Boer, J. C., Buitelaar, J. K., Lourens, T., Glennon, J. C., Staal, W. G., e Barakova, E. I. (2020). The effects of long-term child–robot interaction on the attention and the engagement of children with autism. Robotics, 9(4).
Vitale, A. e Dello Iacono, U. (2024). Using social robots as inclusive educational technology for mathematics learning through storytelling. European Public & Social Innovation Review, 9:1–17.
Woo, H., LeTendre, G. K., Pham-Shouse, T., e Xiong, Y. (2021). The use of social robots in classrooms: A review of field-based studies. Educational Research Review, 33:100388.
Zhang, X., Breazeal, C., e Park, H. W. (2023). A social robot reading partner for explorative guidance. In Proceedings of the 2023 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, HRI '23, page 341–349, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery.
Belpaeme, T., Kennedy, J., Ramachandran, A., Scassellati, B., e Tanaka, F. (2018). Social robots for education: A review. Science robotics, 3(21):eaat5954.
Cagiltay, B., Mutlu, B., e Michaelis, J. E. (2023). "my unconditional homework buddy:" exploring children's preferences for a homework companion robot. In Proceedings of the 22nd Annual ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference, IDC '23, page 375–387, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery.
Ekström, S., Pareto, L., e Ljungblad, S. (2024). Teaching in a collaborative mathematic learning activity with and without a social robot. Education and Information Technologies, 30:1301–1328.
Elgarf, M., Salam, H., e Peters, C. (2024). Fostering children's creativity through llm-driven storytelling with a social robot. Frontiers in Robotics and AI, 11:1457429.
Ferreira, F. e Lima, D. (2023). The use of educational robotics in the development of students' computational thinking and cognitive skills: a systematic literature review. RENOTE, 21:363–372.
Kapur, M. e Bielaczyc, K. (2012). Designing for productive failure. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 21(1):45–83.
Kewalramani, S., Kidman, G., e Palaiologou, I. (2024). A scoping review of the use of robotics technologies for promoting social-emotional learning in children with autism spectrum disorder. Education Sciences, 14(1):24.
Kim, Y., Marx, S., Pham, H., e Nguyen, T. (2021). Designing for robot-mediated interaction among culturally and linguistically diverse children. Educational Technology Research and Development, 69:1–22.
Konijn, E., Jansen, B., Bustos, V., Hobbelink, V., e Vanegas, D. (2022). Social robots for (second) language learning in (migrant) primary school children. International Journal of Social Robotics, 14:1–17.
Konijn, E. A. e Hoorn, J. F. (2020). Robot tutor and pupils' educational ability: Teaching the times tables. Computers & Education, 157:103970.
Kouroupa, A., Laws, K. R., Irvine, K., Mengoni, S. E., Baird, A., e Sharma, S. (2022). The use of social robots with children and young people on the autism spectrum: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLOS ONE, 17(6):e0269800.
Neumann, M. M., Koch, L.-C., Zagami, J., Reilly, D., e Neumann, D. L. (2023). Preschool children's engagement with a social robot compared to a human instructor. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 65:332–341.
Peters, M., Marnie, C., Tricco, A., Pollock, D., Alexander, L., Mcinerney, P., Godfrey, C., e Khalil, H. (2021). Updated methodological guidance for the conduct of scoping reviews. JBI evidence implementation, 19:3–10.
Sena, M. K. B. e Paradeda, R. B. (2025). Supplementary table: Studies included in the review — robots in early childhood education. [link]. Comprehensive, year-by-year list of studies included in the scope review.
Sokolonski, A., de Sá, A., e Macêdo, R. (2020). Robótica educacional como facilitadora do aprendizado do raciocínio computacional: Revisão sistemática da literatura. In Anais do XXXI Simpósio Brasileiro de Informática na Educação (SBIE 2020), pages 1503–1512.
Souza, A., Sousa, C., Torres, D., e Paradeda, R. (2024). Roboldo: An affective robot for empathetic social interactions in education. In Anais do XVI Simpósio Brasileiro de Robótica e XV Workshop de Robótica na Educação, pages 307–312, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil. SBC.
Tolksdorf, N., Viertel, F., e Rohlfing, K. (2021). Do shy preschoolers interact differently when learning language with a social robot? an analysis of interactional behavior and word learning. Frontiers in Robotics and AI, 8:676123.
Tricco, A., Lillie, E., Zarin, W., O'Brien, K., Colquhoun, H., Levac, D., Moher, D., Peters, M., Weeks, L., Hempel, S., Akl, E., Chang, C., McGowan, J., Stewart, L., Hartling, L., Aldcroft, A., Wilson, M., Garritty, C., e Straus, S. (2018). Prisma extension for scoping reviews (prisma-scr): Checklist and explanation. Annals of Internal Medicine, 169.
van Otterdijk, M. T. H., de Korte, M. W. P., van den Berk-Smeekens, I., Hendrix, J., van Dongen-Boomsma, M., den Boer, J. C., Buitelaar, J. K., Lourens, T., Glennon, J. C., Staal, W. G., e Barakova, E. I. (2020). The effects of long-term child–robot interaction on the attention and the engagement of children with autism. Robotics, 9(4).
Vitale, A. e Dello Iacono, U. (2024). Using social robots as inclusive educational technology for mathematics learning through storytelling. European Public & Social Innovation Review, 9:1–17.
Woo, H., LeTendre, G. K., Pham-Shouse, T., e Xiong, Y. (2021). The use of social robots in classrooms: A review of field-based studies. Educational Research Review, 33:100388.
Zhang, X., Breazeal, C., e Park, H. W. (2023). A social robot reading partner for explorative guidance. In Proceedings of the 2023 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, HRI '23, page 341–349, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery.
Publicado
05/10/2026
Como Citar
SENA, Maria Klara Brito; SANTANA, Alan de Oliveira; PARADEDA, Raul Benites.
Use of Social and Educational Robots in Early Childhood and Elementary Education Teaching-Learning Processes: A Scoping Review. In: SIMPÓSIO BRASILEIRO DE INFORMÁTICA NA EDUCAÇÃO (SBIE), 37. , 2026, Goiânia/GO.
Anais [...].
Porto Alegre: Sociedade Brasileira de Computação,
2026
.
p. 1858-1871.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/sbie.2026.28119.
