One of the options to make science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) more accessible, especially for children, is to integrate STEM content into more attractive materials and familiar formats. In this line, by integrating STEM with arts and design, we have created an afterschool program, “Child-Robot Theater” for children in a rural elementary school. We administered two programs over two years and in total 37 children participated in the two-phase program, from which 23 children were included in the analysis of this study. We infused the contents of science, robotics, and computer science with acting, dancing, singing, and drawing inspired by the theater production. Through this longitudinal research, we have successfully demonstrated the informal outreach program with the robots in the wild and achieved improvements in making a robot theater program. After briefly introducing our pedagogical framework and procedure, we delineate potential impacts, lessons, and recommendations for future works. We believe that our efforts could stimulate diverse discussion and practice of using robots and theater for STEAM education across the science, art, and education communities.

中文翻译：

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儿童机器人剧院：使用机器人让小学生参与非正式的 STEAM 教育

使科学、技术、工程和数学 (STEM) 更容易获得的选项之一，尤其是对儿童而言，是将 STEM 内容整合到更具吸引力的材料和熟悉的格式中。在这方面，我们通过将STEM与艺术和设计相结合，为农村小学的孩子们打造了一个课后项目——“儿童机器人剧场”。我们在两年内管理了两个项目，共有 37 名儿童参与了两阶段计划，其中 23 名儿童被纳入本研究的分析。我们将科学、机器人技术和计算机科学的内容融入了受戏剧制作启发的表演、舞蹈、歌唱和绘画中。通过这项纵向研究，我们已经成功地展示了野外机器人的非正式外展计划，并在制作机器人剧院计划方面取得了进步。在简要介绍我们的教学框架和程序后，我们描绘了潜在的影响、经验教训和对未来工作的建议。我们相信，我们的努力可以激发科学、艺术和教育界关于使用机器人和剧院进行 STEAM 教育的各种讨论和实践。