Middle School Students’ Attitudes towards STEM Applications and Their Opinions about These Applications

Abstract

Individuals need to acquire various skills inorder to have the features required by the 21st Century and to be able tocompete with others. Science has an important place in acquiring these skills,and fundamental knowledge of students about Science, Technology, Engineeringand Mathematics is formed during elementary and middle school education. Inthis respect, the implementation of applications in which students can use knowledgerelated to science, technology, engineering and mathematics together will enhancetheir attitude towards science. Therefore, in this study, effect of science,technology, engineering and mathematics applications on student attitudes andstudents' opinions about these applications have been researched. The studygroup consisted of 33 male students who were educated at the 5th, 6th, 7th and8th grade levels of 2017-2018 education-training in a public school in Kocaeli.Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics applications were conducted inthree phases; 1-informing about research skills, 2-robotic workshop and3-preparation and presentation of projects. Data was collected through Science,Technology, Engineering and Mathematics attitude scale and semi-structuredinterview form. The quantitative results obtained show that Science,Technology, Engineering and Mathematics applications increased students’attitudes. As a result of the analysis of qualitative data, it has been foundthat the students find the activities interesting and they think that they arevery popular because they have done scientific research and have producedprojects. In addition, they emphasized that they are excited about theactivities and that the length of the course should be extended. Moreover, thevast majority of students expressed that they have understood working principleof technological tools by the robotics workshops, and indicated that theirknowledge levels increased, and coding changed their lives very much.