The secret to a good robot teacher? Social cues

New York

WHY is educational technology such a disappointment?

In recent years, parents and schools have been exposing children to a range of computer-mediated instruction, and adults have been turning to "brain-training" apps to sharpen their minds, but the results have not been encouraging.

A six-year research project commissioned by the Department of Education examined different cybertechnology programmes across thousands of students in hundreds of schools and found little to no evidence that they improved academic performance.

Unfortunately, it appears the same goes for cognitive-training programmes. Lumos Labs, the company behind Lumosity, one of the leading programmes in this area, agreed to pa…