Children's Interactions with Animated Agents in an Intelligent Tutoring System

Although animated pedagogical agents are frequently found in intelligent tutoring systems and interactive learning environments, their effect on users' attitudes and learning requires further investigation. This paper reports findings of a field study designed to investigate the impact of animated pedagogical agents on primary school children's attitudes to and interactions with the StoryStation system. Sixty pupils used either a version of StoryStation with an animated agent interface or an equivalent one with a normal graphical user interface to write a story. Analysis of questionnaire data indicated that pupils who used the agent version rated StoryStation more highly than those who used the non-agent version. Analysis of program use revealed that girls tended to interact more with the agent version, while boys tended to interact more with the non-agent version.