For more than six years, our team has studied how dialogic AI — technology designed to engage children in meaningful back-and-forth conversation — can support early learning. Instead of simply presenting information, conversational agents can act as interactive reading partners: asking questions, responding to children's answers, and encouraging children to explain their thinking.
Dialogic reading is an interactive approach to shared reading that engages children in back-and-forth conversation about a story. A reading partner asks questions, listens to children's responses, and provides feedback based on what they say.
Conversational agents create opportunities for children to do more than simply listen or read a story.
Within The Science Adventures of Luna & Leo, these conversational moments are designed to reinforce science concepts and vocabulary while encouraging children to actively engage with what they are learning.
Our previous research has found promising results for the use of dialogic AI with young children.
We are now bringing this work into TK–K classrooms to better understand how bilingual, interactive science e-books can support science learning and complement teachers' existing instructional practices.