Early artificial intelligence education: Effects of cooperative play and direct instruction on kindergarteners' computational thinking, sequencing, self‐regulation and theory of mind skills

BackgroundWhile the integration of robot‐based learning in early childhood education has gained increasing attention in recent years, there is still a lack of evidence regarding the impact of AI robots on young children's learning.ObjectivesThe study explored the effectiveness of two AI education approaches in advancing kindergarteners' computational thinking, sequencing, self‐regulation and theory of mind skills.MethodsAn experiment was conducted with 90 kindergarteners (ages 5–6) randomly assigned to either a direct instruction (DI), cooperative play (CP) or control group.ResultsResults show that (1) children in all three groups had significant improvements on computational thinking, sequencing and self‐regulation; (2) both early AI education approaches (CP and DI) significantly enhance young children's computational thinking, sequencing, self‐regulation and theory of mind skills; (3) the DI group had significant higher improvement than the CP group on computational thinking; (4) the CP group exhibited greater enhancements in theory of mind skills than the DI group.ConclusionThese findings jointly demonstrate that each AI educational approach has unique strengths, underscoring the significance of designing new pedagogies to expand children's skills.