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arXiv · 2604.00300

Play-Testing REMind: Evaluating an Educational Robot-Mediated Role-Play Game

Elaheh Sanoubari·Neil Fernandes·Keith Rebello·Alicia Pan·Andrew Houston·Kerstin Dautenhahn
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Abstract

This paper presents REMind, an innovative educational robot-mediated role-play game designed to support anti-bullying bystander intervention among children. REMind invites players to observe a bullying scenario enacted by social robots, reflect on the perspectives of the characters, and rehearse defending strategies by puppeteering a robotic avatar. We evaluated REMind through a mixed-methods play-testing study with 18 children aged 9--10. The findings suggest that the experience supported key learning goals related to self-efficacy, perspective-taking, understanding outcomes of defending, and intervention strategies. These results highlight the promise of Robot-Mediated Applied Drama (RMAD) as a novel pedagogical framework to support Social-Emotional Learning.

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Elaheh Sanoubari, Neil Fernandes, Keith Rebello, Alicia Pan, Andrew Houston, Kerstin Dautenhahn. 2026-03-31. Play-Testing REMind: Evaluating an Educational Robot-Mediated Role-Play Game. https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.00300

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