Students' Attitudes About Robots Based on Their Short Stories

Art and science are inherently intertwined, and this paper explores the intersection of robotics and theater by examining elementary students' attitudes toward robots through their creative writing. Specifically, the research aimed to assess how students perceived robots based on the short stories they composed. A total of 140 elementary school students, aged 9 to 15, were asked to write theater plays in which robots served as the main characters. To inspire their creativity, students were provided with photographs of 30 different educational robots, each featuring distinct shapes and appearances, including humanoid, animal, vehicle, cartoon-like, drone, and abstract machine forms. Alongside the images, brief descriptions of each robot were provided. At the start of the session, a short discussion was conducted to encourage students to develop narratives suited for theatrical performance, incorporating the robots as central characters. The stories were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Quantitative analysis included metrics such as the ratio of robots to human characters. Qualitative analysis focused on identifying recurring topics and scenarios. Prominent situations extracted from the stories included: “The robot has at least one friend”, “The robot is the villain”, or “The robot saves the world.” These scenarios were further categorized based on predominant topic such as friendship, war, or love. Additionally, the study examined the influence of gender and grade level on story topics, robot characterization (whether positive, neutral, or negative), and the occurrence of a happy ending. Results indicated that most students portrayed robots as friendly and positive characters, with friendship and war emerging as the most frequently addressed topics-reflecting the students' social environment and realities. Overall, the findings suggest that young students often perceive robots as social beings, capable of friendship and moral agency, and predominantly assign them positive roles within their stories.