Evaluation of Elementary School Fourth Grade Students' Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) Attitudes in Terms of Various Variables

Abstract

With the increasing importance of interdisciplinary studies in today's developing world of knowledge, innovative educational approaches have started to be adopted in teaching programs in this direction. One of the innovative training approaches is STEM education. Turkey's 2011 and 2015 TIMSS is analyzed according to the level of proficiency in mathematics and science performance in the application of mathematics and science shows that a majority of elementary school fourth grade students' have access yet to the level of mid-level talent. STEM education has an important place in order to change the results obtained and to educate the individuals needed in the future. In this context, the aim of the study is to determine the levels of attitude towards STEM of the fourth grade elementary school students. In this study, descriptive survey model, which is one of the quantitative research designs, was used to determine STEM attitude levels of fourth grade students. The research was conducted in the spring semester of 2018-2019 academic years. Turkey is located south of the working group of the research and studying in medium socio-economic level in state schools from fourth grade to create 322 primary school students. STEM Attitude Scale was used as data collection tool in the study. STEM Attitude Scale was developed by Guzey, Harwell and Moore (2014) and adapted to Turkish language by Aydın, Saka and Guzey (2017). Frequency, arithmetic mean, standard deviation values and difference tests were used to analyze the data. Although STEM attitude elementary school fourth grade students were investigated, it was determined that STEM attitudes were at a good level in agreement with the students although they did not experience any STEM application that integrated science, engineering, mathematics and technology. While STEM attitudes of the students did not differ according to gender, pre-school education, career choice and father education level, it was determined that there was a significant difference according to mother education level.

Keywords

• Elementary school education
• science teaching
• mathematics teaching
• STEM education

İlkokul Dördüncü Sınıf Öğrencilerinin Fen, Teknoloji, Mühendislik, Matematik (FeTeMM) Tutumlarının Çeşitli Değişkenler Açısından Değerlendirilmesi

Öz

Günümüz gelişen bilgi dünyasında disiplinler arası çalışmaların önem kazanmasıyla birlikte, öğretim programlarında bu yönde yenilikçi eğitim yaklaşımları benimsenmeye başlanmıştır. Yenilikçi eğitim yaklaşımlarından biri de FeTeMM (STEM) eğitimidir. Türkiye’nin 2011 ve 2015 TIMSS uygulamasındaki performansı matematik ve fen alanındaki yeterlik düzeylerine göre incelendiğinde; matematik ve fen alanında 4. sınıf öğrencilerinin büyük bir çoğunluğunun henüz orta düzey yetenek seviyesine erişemediği görülmektedir. Elde edilen sonuçların değişmesi ve gelecek dönemin ihtiyaç duyduğu bireyleri yetiştirmek için FeTeMM eğitimi önemli bir yere sahiptir. Erken yaşlarda edinilen tutumlarda, önemli yaşantı ve deneyimler yaşanmadığı sürece, tutumun kolay bir şekilde değişmediği dikkate alınırsa özellikle öğrencinin ilk eğitim-öğretim yeri olan ilkokul döneminin, bireyin bir duruma yönelik tutum oluşturmasında oldukça etken bir faktör olduğu düşünülmektedir. Bu bağlamda çalışmanın amacı, ilkokul dördüncü sınıf öğrencilerinin FeTeMM tutum düzeylerini belirlemektir. Araştırmada, ilkokul dördüncü sınıf öğrencilerinin FeTeMM tutum düzeylerinin belirlenmesi amacıyla nicel araştırma desenlerinden betimsel tarama modeli kullanılmıştır. Araştırma 2018-2019 eğitim öğretim yılı bahar döneminde gerçekleştirilmiştir. Araştırmanın çalışma grubunu Türkiye’nin güneyinde yer alan ve orta sosyo-ekonomik düzeydeki devlet okullarında öğrenim gören ilkokul dördüncü sınıf düzeyinden 322 öğrenci oluşturmaktadır. Araştırmada veri toplama aracı olarak STEM Tutum Ölçeği kullanılmıştır. STEM Tutum Ölçeği, Guzey, Harwell ve Moore (2014) tarafından geliştirilmiş ve dilimize Aydın, Saka ve Guzey (2017) tarafından uyarlanmıştır. Verilerin çözümlenmesinde frekans, aritmetik ortalama, standart sapma değerleri ve fark testleri kullanılmıştır. İlkokul dördüncü sınıf öğrencilerinin FeTeMM tutum düzeylerinin araştırıldığı çalışmada, öğrencilerin fen, mühendislik, matematik ve teknolojinin entegre edilerek uygulandığı herhangi bir FeTeMM uygulamasını deneyimlememiş olmalarına rağmen FeTeMM tutumlarının katılıyorum düzeyinde yani iyi seviyede olduğu belirlenmiştir. Öğrencilerin FeTeMM tutumlarının, cinsiyet, okul öncesi eğitim alma, meslek seçimi ve baba eğitim düzeyine göre farklılık göstermediği belirlenirken, anne eğitim düzeyine göre anlamlı farklılık gösterdiği belirlenmiştir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• İlkokul eğitimi
• fen öğretimi
• matematik öğretimi
• FeTeMM (STEM) eğitimi

Kaynakça

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