مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematic (STEM) Attitude Levels In Grades 4^th

Abstract :

The aim of the current study was to adapt science, technology, engineering, mathematic (STEM) attitude scale and to retain whether there was differences or not on the 4-8 grade student’s STEM attitude by applying scale on them. The study employed a descriptive survey model and data was collected from 964 students educated at 4^th to 8^th grades from Istanbul, Denizli, and Antalya and Kahramanmaras cities. As data collection tool, STEM attitude scale consisting 28 –items that was developed by Guzey, Harwell and Moore (2014) employed. At the beginning of the research, scale was adapted into Turkish by the researchers and Lisrel870 and SPSS 17 programs were used to analysis of large data set and factor analysis was used to test the adaptation of scale and Mann-Whitney U-Test for Independent Samples and Kruskal Wallis H-Tests for independent samples were employed to test the differences on the level of STEM attitudes of students depending on same demographic variables. As a results of data analysis, the STEM attitude level of students who were not experienced before was at intermediate level. Further, gender, public or private school, education level of parents have no effects on the student’s STEM attitudes. But, grade levels (χ2 (sd=4, n=964) = 54.49, p .05), location of schools ((χ2 (sd=3, n=964) = 13.10, p .05), and profession choices (χ2 (sd=7, n=964) = 7.77, p .05) have meaningful effects on student’s STEM attitudes. The research providing usage of scale in the area and indicating student’s readiness of STEM implementations was important.