COASTAL OBSERVER

The newest additions to The Village Group’s year-round after-school program, Plantersville Enrichment Academy, may be small in stature but they’re having a big impact on how students approach learning.

The Village Group’s after-school program, in partnership with the Plantersville Summer Academy, debuted multiple ABii robots last summer. ABii is an interactive learning assistant powered by artificial intelligence, designed to help children from grades kindergarten through sixth grade with reading and math instruction.

ABii stands about 15 inches tall, and has a large, oval-shaped head with a smooth, helmet-like appearance. Its arms and legs are feature bulbous indents which almost looks like a space suit. The robot’s circular “eyes” emit a purple glow to convey expressions, and its head and arms are capable of making simple, controlled movements.

Alika Wilson, a reading specialist with The Village Group, said she was hesitant about ABii at first.

“When we were being trained on it, I was like, ‘I don’t know about this.’ And then as I used it, I was like, I understand why it’s engaging. I understand why the children connect with it,” she said. “I knew that they were AI-powered, and I was not sure, from what I knew about AI, what to expect.”

The robots can connect to HP Chromebooks to launch ABii’s counterpart software, which provides lessons in math, reading and life skills. The lessons are aligned with national math and English language arts standards and are mapped to each state’s educational standards, Wilson added. 

The web application has students complete pre- and post-assessments to assess students’ comprehension of each skill.

When a student does not pass the pre-assessment, ABii automatically launches a scaffolded, step-by-step explanation of how to solve the problem.

“It’ll know exactly where they started at and where they should be going,” Wilson said.

ABii adapts to each student’s learning ability, meaning it’s designed to go at the students’ pace, she added.

Once a student logs onto the software, ABii recognizes the student and tracks their eye movement using the computer’s camera monitor to see if the student is paying attention. Wilson said that information is valuable to a teacher.

“This is the part about the AI technology that is really cool. It watches their eyes and how fast it moves when they’re doing certain things. It’ll tell me how the performance went but it also tells me when they’re paying attention,” she said. “If a student gets a grade that’s lower than what we want, we don’t want to just guess that he doesn’t know it. It could be that he wasn’t focused.”

Dustin Drayton, a third-grader at Plantersville Elementary School, said ABii has helped him with his math and reading skills.

“It helps me with my speaking and it helps me with my addition and subtraction,” he said. 

Dustin said he wasn’t sure if he had ever heard of AI before. He said he enjoys learning about fractions with the help of the robots, especially when he completes an assignment. 

To keep the students engaged, ABii’s responsive feedback system interacts with the student after each completed assignment with a dance party, guitar solo or a high five. 

That is his favorite part, he added.

“It sounds funny. It sounds like a machine,” Dustin said.

Zarhya Lawrence, a third-grader at Plantersville Elementary and Dustin’s classmate in the academy, said she thinks the robots are funny, too.

“It’s very fun and creative, and it helps me learn more things,” Zarhya said. “My favorite part is how they encourage us and do little things to help us learn more. When it says, ‘congratulations, you finished the questions,’ it leans backwards and puts his arms up.”

She said she has seen an increase in her grades since working with ABii.

Queen Funnye, the program coordinator with The Village Group, and Ray Funnye, her husband and executive director, were first introduced to ABii at the Beyond School Hours national conference last year. 

She said ABii, developed by Van Robotics, stood out to them due to its ability to address individual learner’s strengths and weaknesses.

“Some of our kids are struggling. In addition to that, we are able to be unlike normal school actions, we could put it to those kids’ level. We could adjust the lessons to their levels to bring them up. ABii would change it, make it a little more challenging as they grow,” she said. “That really got our attention because you know, regular school, they have to keep them on whatever grade level they’re in. We can fill in that gap.”

Funnye said she was looking for an addition to classrooms that would get young students excited to learn.

“We are constantly out there, seeing what curriculum, what avenues we can follow to enhance that learning process for the kids, making them a little excited, a little more enthused. And ABii has definitely done that because it’s a little personalized,” Funnye said.

“I love that about it because all of the children were on different levels. I won’t have to just try to keep up where they are,” Wilson added.

Wilson said having ABii around takes a load off of her shoulders by filling in any gaps in her instruction.

Without ABii, Wilson said she would rotate her students in groups based on their needs. She previously used the i-Ready program, an online K-8 reading and mathematics application utilized by most schools in the district.

“iReady is really good. However it’s not as engaging,” Wilson said. “So without [ABii], I have to kind of motivate more on my own.”

She said she does not view ABii as a replacement for teachers or face-to-face instruction, but as a supplemental resource that “enhances” student learning.

“That core curriculum that is given by a teacher is what builds that foundation, and then ABii comes in and just enhances it,” Wilson said. “I don’t feel threatened at all as a teacher. They need me. Children need one-on-one. They need a human connection. They need to be able to ask a question, and these are not equipped to answer questions.”