An investigation of preservice teachers' STEM awareness through definitions and relationships of STEM areas

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to investigate STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) awareness of preservice freshman and senior teachers who study in STEM related teaching programs through definitions and relationships of STEM areas. In this sense, participants’ definitions and descriptions of STEM areas through STEM related daily topics were examined. The study investigated whether there was a significant difference between freshman and senior preservice teachers in terms of using relationship between STEM areas while defining and describing STEM areas. In addition, the study aimed to describe how participants who see the relationship between STEM areas express the relationships between STEM areas. In this study, mixed-method approach was used. The research had two phases. In the first phase, STEM awareness (STEM-A) Open-Ended Questionnaire was administered to 204 participants. The results of this instrument were quantitatively analyzed. According to analysis of STEM-A Open-Ended Questionnaire, there was no significant difference between freshman and senior participants in terms of using relationship between STEM areas while defining and describing STEM areas. For the second phase, participants who defined and described at least one STEM area in terms of relationships between STEM areas were chosen and 9 participants were interviewed to investigate their understanding of relationship. Four different STEM related daily topics were used to collect data (2 in STEM-A and 2 in interviews). The research showed that participants used more statements related to relationships between STEM areas while defining STEM areas. In this sense, it can be stated that they had difficulty in expressing the relationship between STEM areas in daily life STEM related cases.