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Robot Musical Theater for Preschoolers’ STEAM Education: Effects on Interest, Self-efficacy, and Curiosity in Technology

Thu, March 23, 5:00 to 6:30pm, Salt Palace Convention Center, Floor: 1, Grand Ballroom F

Abstract

Although robotic technologies have been increasingly accessible to young learners, a gap remains in terms of effective and age-appropriate programs that integrate social robots with preschoolers’ Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) education. Social robots that closely resemble humans and animals have the potential to support early childhood education through naturalistic and socially adaptive exchanges with young children (Belpaeme et al., 2018). Indeed, emerging evidence supports the facilitative role of robot musical theater activities in elementary and high school students (Barnes et al., 2020; Nadri et al., 2020). Yet, no study to date has examined the effectiveness of robot musical theater activities for preschoolers. In this study, we designed a child-robot theater program and examined its effects on children’s interest, self-efficacy, and curiosity in robot-related activities.

We designed and conducted a 7-week child-robot theater program with three classrooms at a preschool. First, we developed a storybook to introduce social robots (Figures 1a and 1b). Next, we created four 20-minute weekly modules (Acting, Dancing, Music/Sound, and Drawing) to engage children in the story through a form of robot musical theater. During these modules, children learned about the characteristics, functions, and mechanisms of the robots. Each weekly module was followed by 10-minute free play with the robots. The last week was allocated to rehearsals and performances. A total of 47 children engaged in the program, and 21 of them (Mage = 47 months, SDage = 13.26; 52% Female) completed the pre- and post-interviews for each of the four modules, reporting their interest, self-efficacy, and curiosity in robot-related activities. Five classroom teachers completed pre-, mid-, and post-program interviews to share their comments about the program.

We fitted three linear mixed-effects models to examine changes in children’s interest, self-efficacy, and curiosity in robot-related activities, respectively (Figure 2). Fixed effects included test period (pre, post) and Module (1, 2, 3, 4), and participant was a random effect. Children’s interest in robots remained high regardless of test period or module, p > .250. Children’s self-efficacy was improved significantly across modules, β = 1.56, SE = 0.72, OR = 5.09, p = .029. Children’s curiosity was decreased between the pre and post periods only in the last module, β = -3.67, SE = 1.66, OR = 0.03, p = .027. In addition, the majority of children reported that they enjoyed the program throughout the modules, ranging from 86% to 100%. Teachers reported the positive impact of the robot theater program and the educational potential of social robots for children’s cognitive as well as social-emotional development.

Despite the emphasis on “Computer Science for all,” considerable challenges remain in finding developmentally appropriate and engaging educational curricula to effectively integrate social robots with early childhood education. This project is the first attempt to design and evaluate robotics educational programs for preschoolers’ STEAM education. Our findings suggest that young children can maintain their interest and improve their self-efficacy throughout the program. Future research should incorporate age-appropriate tasks to better assess curiosity and learning and add a comparison group to strengthen the findings.

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