Scaffolding the Scaffolder
Augmenting Parental Agency in the Developmental Arena with Generative AI
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 17830609 |
|---|---|
| Authors | José David Amorocho (0009-0004-1659-9967, Universidad de La Sabana, corresponding author), Juan José Giraldo-Huertas (0000-0002-9841-0336, Universidad de La Sabana) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 2323-2347 |
| Publication date | 2026-02-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Human Arenas (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2522-5790 • E-ISSN: 2522-5804 |
| Publisher | Springer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s42087-025-00542-6 |
| OpenAlex | W7127055678 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 47 |
Parent-child scaffolding interactions are foundational yet fleeting, making self-monitoring difficult for caregivers. We present GABRIEL, a multi-agent generative AI (GenAI) pipeline conceived as a reflective mirror to augment parental agency in dialogical book-sharing. This work is a proof-of-concept that establishes feasibility, traceability, and preliminary reliability rather than a fully validated monitoring tool. The evaluation uses 52 recordings from 42 predominantly mother-child dyads in a single Colombian region, which constrains generalizability. Agreement with a human-coded benchmark (trained undergraduate raters under supervision) is reported against a priori criteria defined in the Methods: exact and within-±1 agreement on a 1-9 scale, ordinal concordance (Kendall’s $$\tau _b$$ /Spearman’s $$\rho $$ ), and calibration (slope/intercept). While exact and within-±1 agreement remain modest, the system’s evolution reveals a critical trade-off: Stage 2 achieves the lowest point-wise error (MSE), whereas Stage 3 offers a more theoretically grounded architecture at the cost of slightly higher error. This tension is central to our findings. Ordinal concordance and calibration are mixed and generally below our a priori thresholds; we therefore restrict claims to cautious, reflective (non-judgmental) use and highlight the need for further calibration. We also outline system governance, minimal computational requirements, and pathways for cultural/linguistic adaptation. Future work will benchmark against expert developmental psychologists and conduct cross-cultural replications to consolidate measurement validity. A related external validation study is currently under review (blinded) and is not reported here
A priori and a posteriori · Agency (philosophy) · Benchmark (surveying) · Calibration · Concordance · Dialogical self · Generative grammar · Identification (biology) · Pipeline (software) · Child and Animal Learning Development · Child Development and Digital Technology · Language Development and Disorders
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| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |