REIMAGINING EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION WITH EMOTION-AWARE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Abstract

Early Childhood Education (ECE) serves as a cornerstone for cognitive, emotional and social development of individuals. Hence, the efficacy of ECE does not rely only on the curriculum design but also on the emotional experiences that impact children’s ability to engage and retain knowledge. However, maintaining children’s engagement and knowledge retention remains a challenge in contemporary classrooms. This is because most early learning environments still depend on generalised teaching methods that ignore children’s emotional differences. This study presents a conceptual review of Emotion-Aware Artificial Intelligence (AI) in ECE by examining its theoretical foundations, educational benefits, and implementation challenges. Relevant scholarly publications were identified through academic databases using keywords related to early childhood education, artificial intelligence, affective computing, and emotion-aware AI. The selected literature was examined and synthesised to develop a coherent conceptual understanding of how emotion-aware AI can support emotionally responsive learning environments. The review indicates that emotion-aware AI technologies driven by affective computing can detect and interpret learners’ emotional states such as frustration, boredom, confusion, excitement and enthusiasm. Although challenges such as ethical issues, data privacy, bias and overdependence on technology can affect the effective integration of these technologies into early childhood education, strategies can be employed to mitigate these challenges. This study therefore concludes that incorporating emotion-aware AI into early childhood education is a progressive step toward enriching early childhood learning outcomes in a rapidly evolving digital age.