The Impact of STEM-Based Astronomy Activities on Secondary School Students’ Attitudes towards STEM and Astronomy

Authors : Sevilay YÜZGEÇ, Funda OKUŞLUK

Pages : 1-13

View : 7 | Download : 9

Publication Date : 2023-04-30

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :STEM insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics); is an educational approach that aims to bring together different disciplines and use the knowledge and skills related to these disciplines to solve the problems encountered in daily life. STEM education supports skills such as creativity, critical thinking, communication skills, problem-solving ability, which we count as important skills for the century we are in. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of STEM-based astronomy activities on astronomy and STEM attitudes of secondary school students. In the study, one group pretest-posttest design was used from experimental designs. In the study, astronomy and STEM attitude scales were applied as pretests to 7th grade students studying at a rural school. The study group consisted of a total of 18 participants, 8 girls and 10 boys, who were determined by convenience sampling method. In the research, which lasted for 4 weeks, preliminary activities were carried out to prepare students for the process before moving on to STEM activities prepared for astronomy subjects. After the preliminary activities, STEM activities related to astronomy subjects were implemented and at the end of the implementation, STEM and astronomy attitude scales were applied to the students again. For STEM activities, knowledge-based life problems were presented to the students, and the students put forward their original ideas about producing solutions to the problem and designing appropriate products. According to the results of the analysis, although there was a positive increase between the STEM attitude scale pretest and post-test scores of the students, there was no statistical difference in their attitudes towards STEM insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(p>.05);. According to the pretest-posttest scores of the astronomy attitude scale, a statistically significant difference was found insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(p<.05);. According to the results of this research, astronomy activities prepared with STEM-based activities have been effective in developing students’ attitude to astronomy.
Keywords : STEM eğitimi, Astronomi etkinlikleri, STEM tutum, Astronomi tutum