Little Bear - A Gaze Aware Learning Companion For Early Childhood Learners

Computing devices such as mobile phones and tablet computers are increasingly used to support early childhood learning. Currently, touching the screen is the most common interaction technique on such devices. To augment the current interaction experience, overcome posture-related issues with tablet usage and promote novel ways of engagement, we propose gaze as an input modality in educational applications for early learners. In this demonstration, we present the Little Bear, a gaze aware pedagogical agent that tailors its verbal and non-verbal behaviour based on the visual attention of the child. We built an application using the Little Bear, to teach the names of everyday fruits and vegetables to young children. Our demonstration system shows the potential of gaze-based learning applications and the novel engagement possibility provided by gaze-aware pedagogical agents.