The Impact of AI-based Smart Robot Education on the Sociality of Preschool Children Mediated by Creative Problem-solving and Linguistic Expression

This research investigates the educational effectiveness of a smart robot program integrated with Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the sociality of preschool children, particularly focusing on the mediating roles of creative problem-solving and linguistic expression. As the Fourth Industrial Revolution reshapes the educational landscape, AI-driven media have emerged as a ‘Social catalyst’ that significantly accelerates early childhood development. This study employed a quantitative experimental design involving a large-scale sample of 300 preschool children (150 boys and 150 girls) aged 5 to 6 years from various kindergartens in Sejong City. The participants were divided into an experimental group (n=150) that engaged in a 12-week AI-based smart robot program and a control group (n=150) that followed a traditional curriculum. Data were collected through the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS), Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT), and standardized linguistic assessments. The results demonstrate that the AI voice-interactive robot program significantly augmented childrens sociality scores across all sub-factors. Notably, mediation analysis confirmed that linguistic expression acted as a more potent mediator (ib/i =.45, ip/i .001) compared to creative problem-solving (ib/i =.38, ip /i.01), identifying vocal interaction as the primary driver of social development. Statistical analysis further revealed that these variables partially mediated the relationship between AI interaction and sociality. Furthermore, while both genders showed significant improvement, girls demonstrated higher engagement in emotional rapport via voice interaction, whereas boys exhibited greater gains in task-oriented problem-solving. This study concludes that pedagogically sound AI voice-interactive tools are effective for fostering social development in young learners. These findings provide practical implications for educators and media content developers to design immersive and interactive AI educational environments.