Ellen C. Agnello

But how much of the work should it do?

As we usher in this new era of technology, it’s imperative that we consider the profound impact that social interaction plays on child development. Artificial Intelligence (AI), already has and will continue to be used to perform tasks that were previously done by teachers, such as providing one-on-one instruction, assessment, academic advising, and even mentoring. This article explores how social interactions, especially those between teacher and student, contribute to aspects like cognitive development, language skills, emotional intelligence, cultural awareness, and confidence building. It ends with the questions that are on everyone’s minds: How will AI change our children’s schooling and and how will a likely increase in student-bot interaction and decrease in student-human interaction shape them?

Teaching is More than a Knowledge Exchange

Each week, my four-year old daughter attends an afternoon dance class. Sometimes, her excitement for class prevents her from taking her afternoon nap. When we arrive at the building that houses the dance studio, we watch our shy, clingy baby transform into a self-confident, independent girl as she sprints straight to the studio, leaving us in the dust. Although she likes to dance, her eagerness isn’t incited by the curriculum and although she loves other kids, it’s not about seeing her friends. She is genuinely thrilled to see her dance teacher, who somehow teaches a roomful of toddlers everything from first position to empathy in just 45 minutes per week. This teacher is pure magic and has captivated our daughter and taught her so much more than how to dance.

These observations reinforce the notion that kids learn more, and benefit in many other ways, when they form a secure attachment to their teachers. There’s also plenty of empirical evidence to support this theory. Here’s what we know:

What research says about teacher-child relationships

Parents are typically their child’s primary attachment figures. However, as their children begin to leave home for activities, daycare, and school, other attachment figures enter their lives. Therefore:

“children’s development [is] expected to be better predicted by the sum of [their] (familial and non-familial) attachment relationships than solely by [their] parent-child attachment relationships (Van IJzendoorn et al., 1992).”

(Spilt & Koomen, 2022)

Teacher-child relationships have been found to:

• Be significantly associated with engagement and self-regulation, including positive task behaviors and frustration tolerance (Pianta et al., 1997).
• Have lasting effects on academic and behavioral outcomes. For instance, Hamre and Pianta (2001) found positive and negative effects of early child-teacher relationships lasting up to 8th grade (Hamre and Pianta, 2001).
• Exist and impact secondary students, when scheduling permits them to. For instance, Van Ryzin (2010) found that almost half of students who participated in a mentor advisory program used their teacher-advisor as a secure base or safe haven.
• Be associated with several student-attributes. For instance, student-teacher closeness was found to be positively associated with prosocial behavior and negatively with conduct problems, hyperactivity, and peer problems (Koomen et al., 2012).

Interestingly, researchers originally thought that these attachments become less necessary as kids progress through K-12. For instance, middle and high school students begin to place more value on friendship and form meaningful and secure attachments to their peers. However, Koomen et al.’s (2012) findings indicate otherwise. The need is still there, but the structure of the middle and high school schedule: students having several teachers instead of just one and a larger focus on curricular content and lesser focus on relationship building and social-emotional supports, make it more difficult for attachments to form.

How might technology impact these relationships?

During the Covid-19 pandemic, quarantine mandates forced districts to shift from in-person to online learning. To ensure that all students could access virtual instruction, districts scrambled to shore up digital devices.

The sudden influx of sophisticated AI applications may tempt districts to increase instructional screen time even more. Many of these applications make lofty promises, like differentiated instruction for all, increased engagement, greater learning gains, and less work for teachers. However, it’s important to remember that the need for a secure student-teacher attachment and the benefits it provides transcends grade-level. So the final question is: how can we benefit from these new technologies without sacrificing these important relationships with our students?