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Background Computational thinking (CT) is a crucial domain for children to develop in their early years. To increase children's access to CT learning resources, educational programs like PBS KIDS “Lyla in the Loop” have been developed to incorporate CT concepts through narrative structures where characters solve problems using the CT cycle. However, children need explicit guidance to effectively process both educational and narrative content. Engaging children in dialogues that connect educational content with the narrative has proven to enhance comprehension. Aims This study explores the effectiveness of using AI to enable this type of dialogues between children and a media character, supporting children in learning CT by connecting these concepts with everyday situations in “Lyla in the Loop.” Method Through a between-subject randomized control study with 160 children aged four to eight, we will compare children's learning and applications of CT concepts as well as narrative comprehension from AI-assisted dialogues to those who watched the broadcast version of the show without such dialogues. The study also examines the role of children's cognitive abilities and prior CT knowledge in their learning from the show, with or without AI-assisted dialogues. Expected results The findings could enhance our understanding of AI-based scaffolding strategies in children's media and offer practical implications for improving children's learning experiences. 

Riverine flooding events are expected to become increasingly severe in the coming decades due to climate change, resulting in an urgent need to build flood resilience in underserved areas of the country. West Virginia has some of the highest risk of flooding in the United States, which is often compounded by aging infrastructure and high levels of socioeconomic vulnerability. In June 2016, one storm caused flooding that killed twenty-three people, destroyed or damaged thousands of homes and businesses, and caused $1 billion in damages across the state. Some of the most affected towns have yet to fully recover. This mixed-methods community-engaged research project was the first systematic investigation of lessons learned from the 2016 floods in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, a place devastated by this disaster. Using a county-wide survey, focus groups, and participatory GIS (PGIS), this project resulted in the creation of community-informed geospatial products to communicate flood risk, as well as a set of community-identified recommendations for increasing resilience to future flood disasters. Findings offer critical insights for more effective flood response and recovery in West Virginia and other rural areas of the United States with high riverine flood risk. 

Recognizing the challenges bilingual children face in school readiness and the potential of bilingual dialogic shared reading in improving language and literacy, this study investigates the use of a bilingual conversational agent (CA) to enhance shared reading experiences in home environments. While current CAs hold promise in fostering young children's learning, they do not typically consider the linguistic and cultural needs of bilingual children and rarely involve parents intentionally. To this end, we developed a bilingual CA, embedded within ebooks, to support children's language learning and parent engagement for Latine Spanish-English bilingual families. A week-long home-based study with 15 families indicated that the bilingual CA elicited a high level of bilingual verbal engagement from children, thereby promoting their vocabulary acquisition. It also stimulated meaningful conversations among parents and children. This study provides design implications for developing CAs for bilingual children and parents. 

Conversational agents (CAs) are increasingly prevalent in children’s lives, serving as educational companions, particularly in shared reading activities. While effective for monolingual children’s learning, there exists a gap in meeting the unique needs of the rapidly expanding bilingual child population, who face dual challenges of school readiness and heritage language maintenance. Moreover, most current CAs, designed for one-to-one interactions with children, neglect the importance of parents’ active participation in shared reading. Our study introduces the development and home deployment of a bilingual CA, integrated within e-books, designed to foster parent-child joint engagement in shared reading, thereby promoting children’s bilingual language development. Results of the study indicated high levels of family engagement in co-reading activities over an extended period, with observable language learning gains in children. This study provides valuable design implications for designing effective and engaging CAs for bilingual families.