The application of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education in solving real-world problems is challenging. To tackle this challenge, a project-based learning approach that integrates robots with cost-effective self-made toys to problem-solving was adopted to assist rural primary school students to apply STEM skills. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of the project-based learning approach which includes lecturing and hands-on activities on primary school students’ STEM learning outcomes and attitudes. An experiment was conducted with 25 primary school students who voluntarily participated in a STEM summer-camp programme. Students were asked to assemble a paper house equipped with an IoT control module and LED light switches, and write and edit robot scripts to produce a robot-based storytelling narrative using the paper house they made as a context. The results show that the project-based learning approach was an effective approach for cultivating primary school students’ STEM knowledge and skills as evidenced from the post-written test. The relationships between the students’ STEM learning outcomes and attitudes were also confirmed by a clustering analysis. Students who had higher learning attitudes also achieved higher STEM learning outcomes; the findings are also supported by the feedback from the open-ended questionnaire items. This study suggests that integrating low-cost self-made toys and robots in project-based learning activities is an effective and practical approach to enhance primary school students’ learning outcomes and learning attitudes in STEM education.

Cyber-physical systems (CPS), along with information technology devices such as portable devices and robots, materials including knowledge contents, and Internet resources, can be integrated into curricula to guide learners in observing and experiencing STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) knowledge and skills. This integration provides opportunities for learners to cultivate their abilities to design creative works. The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of a robot-assisted teaching and learning system in STEM education on learners’ academic knowledge, skills, and attitudes. To achieve this objective, an experimental design was employed, with 30 college students assigned to learn and create a Drawdio electronic sound synthesizer using robot teachers and tablet computers. Pre- and post-tests were administered to measure students’ academic achievement in STEM, and a survey was conducted to assess their attitudes toward STEM. The findings of the study indicate that the combination of robot teachers and tablet computers served as a supplementary learning resource within the learning environment. It accelerated knowledge acquisition, expanded hands-on experiences, and improved engagement and motivation among the learners. These results suggest that robot-assisted teaching and learning systems have the potential to enhance learning outcomes and attitudes among students. However, it is important to note that human teachers still outperformed robot teachers in certain aspects, particularly in higher levels of knowledge acquisition according to Bloom’s taxonomy. Therefore, this study suggests the adoption of a collaborative model involving both robot and human teachers to effectively promote STEM education in the classroom.

The new era of integrating robots with artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things has provided huge potential for service robots to play important roles in our daily lives. Therefore, it is interesting to investigate whether a robot should have a separate device to incorporate digital content or use its face to toggle between facial expressions and digital content. From the human–robot interface (HRI) design perspective, a robot with a tablet obviously is closer to a real human teacher using a tablet while teaching students in a classroom. However, limited research has been done to explore such HRI design and its impacts on human behaviours. A robot-facilitated storytelling learning system was developed in this study to evaluate the impact of HRI design on college students’ learning behaviours in two different conditions: ‘Robot with Tablet’ or ‘Robot only’. The results revealed that both learning conditions of HRI design benefited college students from knowledge acquisition of vocabulary and comprehension of story content. Furthermore, ‘Robot only’ which is more cost-effective was found to be as good as that of ‘Robot with Tablet’ for the students in terms of knowledge acquisition, cognitive load and learning fatigue.

Recent college students have been observed to be motivated and engaged in acquiring science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) knowledge and skills with robots and IoT objects. A sample of 13 master's students participated in the program. Data collected include the pre-and post- STEM and computational thinking (CT) written tests, and the pre- and post- surveys of learning perceptions toward the robots and IoT objects learning activities. The results show that the learning activities were an effective approach for the master's students' STEM learning outcome and CT as shown in the post-test. The differences between the master's students' STEM learning outcome, CT, and perceptions were also confirmed, particularly between the groups of computer programming-experienced learners and computer programming-novice learners. The results revealed that the learning activities with robots and IoT objects could improve the overall master's students' CT, STEM knowledge, and learning perceptions. Both programming-experienced and programming-novice learners' STEM learning outcome were improved.

STEM education has received increasing attention in recent years. Thus, this study proposes a knowledge and skill enhancement framework by integrating TPACK for enhancing learners’ STEM knowledge and skills. The main idea of the proposed approach was to conduct a workshop for learners to make an electronic sound synthesizer. Related data were collected along the whole process, the results revealed that the proposed approach significantly helps learners improve their learning performance and fosters their positive attitudes toward STEM.