Shaping the future: How robot programming education changes the attitudes of robotics among rural primary school students in a developing country

Artificial intelligence (AI) is being deeply integrated into human society. In the future, human collaboration with AI is inevitable. Therefore, exploring the attitudes of future workers—represented by current K-12 children—towards AI has become crucial. Robots stand as typical representatives of AI. Robot programming education is an important component of STEM education. This study aims to explore the impact of early robot programming education on the attitudes of rural children in developing countries towards robots. We explored changes in attitudes towards robots among rural primary students before and after robot education, as well as gender differences in these changes. A seven-week robot programming course was implemented for 175 sixth-grade students (comprising 96 boys and 79 girls) in a rural primary school in the south-western part of China. Two rounds of data collection, conducted as pre-tests and post-tests, were administered before and after the courses. The results indicate that: (1) Rural children maintain a positive and favourable attitude towards robots; (2) Robot programming education increased certain negative attitudes of rural children towards robots, especially among boys; (3) Robotics education significantly increased girls' acceptance of robots, perceiving them as human-subordinate companions. Boys were less likely to hold such beliefs; (4) Robotics education also amplified girls' concerns about potential human replacement by robots. However, these concerns remained within an optimistic range; (5) Robotics education to some extent increased the self-efficacy of rural children in manipulating robots, especially among boys, but this improvement did not reach a significant level overall. This study contributes to understanding the attitudes of rural children in developing countries towards robots (AI). It is also beneficial for STEM educators to understand the importance of early robot education for these rural children.