A Curiosity Estimation in Storytelling with Picture Books for Children Using Wearable Sensors

Area of Science:

• Child Development
• Educational Technology
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Storytelling is crucial for children's cognitive and emotional growth.
• Assessing young children's engagement in educational activities is challenging due to their inability to complete traditional surveys.
• Improving storytelling methods requires accurate measurement of children's curiosity levels.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and validate a method for estimating children's curiosity during picture book reading activities.
• To analyze the relationship between children's behaviors and their curiosity levels.
• To develop a system for objective curiosity assessment in early childhood education.

Main Methods:

• Utilized acceleration and angular velocity sensors placed on children's heads to capture behavioral data.
• Identified and categorized specific child behaviors associated with varying levels of curiosity.
• Developed a model to estimate curiosity based on sensor-detected movement patterns.

Main Results:

• Established a correlation between head-mounted sensor data and children's curiosity levels.
• Identified key behaviors indicative of curiosity during storytelling.
• Achieved an approximate 72% accuracy in estimating children's curiosity using motion sensor data.

Conclusions:

• Head-mounted motion sensors offer a viable, non-intrusive method for assessing children's curiosity in real-time.
• This technology can inform educators about children's engagement, enabling personalized learning experiences.
• Further refinement of the method holds potential for enhancing early childhood education strategies.