Robotic learning

C&T is a company of drama practitioners and technologists based in Worcester. Over the past five years we have grown a network of schools with whom we enter into long-term partnerships. Using our blend of applied theatre, participation and digital media, our network partners use C&T to deliver many aspects of the curriculum, especially in English, Personal Social and Health Education, and the Humanities. Science was still an area in which C&T had much less experience, when the University of Worcester approached us to work with the defence research company QinetiQ. QinetiQ needs highly-skilled science graduates and works hard to engage young people in STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths).
Why, though, use a theatre company? QinetiQ and the university thought that the new science curriculum, particularly its emphasis on the moral and ethical dimensions of science, was proving challenging for traditional science teaching practice. A company like C&T could provide new approaches and techniques for science teachers to build into their practice. QinetiQ asked us to look at our research interests – we picked robotics. Having trialled a pilot one-day programme in two schools, AstraZeneca’s Science Teaching Trust then funded a fully realised programme to be delivered for 11–14 year-olds in seven C&T network schools.

The programme cast young people as expert researchers advising QinetiQ on the moral and ethical dimensions of robotics. Through a mixture of role-play, gaming, working with real robots in the classroom and streamed video from QinetiQ employees, the pupils explored the morality of robots replacing humans. Each programme was led three times in each school: the first with a C&T animateur leading, supported by a science teacher; the second time with the science teacher leading and the animateur supporting; and finally by the science teacher alone. The project will be evaluated to see if it has made systemic changes to the way science is taught. Initial findings show that science teachers are often more creative than they give themselves credit for. Given the right support and pedagogic framework, they quickly develop new creative practice; a sustained relationship between an arts company and a school gives a durable basis for educators to try something new. Newly confident teachers have taken the project and delivered it themselves with their feeder primary schools; a fusion of drama and technology has a natural synergy with science education; and QinetiQ gave us a credible, real-world framework that motivated the students.
For C&T, the project has been a good example of how our network gives students an opportunity to learn in new ways. Their sophisticated reactions surprised everyone involved – a debate over a robot surgeon making the decision to let a patient live or die showed how quickly the students got to the heart of the ethical dimension. I asked Paul Sutton, C&T’s Artistic Director, to reflect on what the company had learnt about working with partners from sectors far removed from the arts: “We could have ruled out developing links in sectors with little track record of engaging with the arts, but working with QinetiQ has challenged our preconceptions. Keeping an open mind and creating something special for our schools and students has been exciting. The further we step outside our comfort zone, the more powerful our model of applied learning seems to become.”