Investigation of 5th grade students' interest in STEM professions, engineering knowledge and engineer perceptions through STEM education in electrical circuit elements unit

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the activities emphasizing explicit and implicit engineering on students' engineering knowledge levels, their interests in STEM professions, and their understanding of engineering in the Electrical Circuit Elements unit within the scope of STEM education with 5th grade students. For this purpose, intervention design, one of the mixed method research designs, was used in the study. In the quantitative dimension of the study, 5th grade students in Tuşba district of Van province were determined as the accessible sample. The sample of the study was 5th grade students studying in three different branches in a public school located in Tuşba district of Van province. Qualitative data were also collected with this sample. In one of the classes, only STEM activities (STEM Activity), in one class STEM activities and engineering videos (STEM Activity + Video) and in one class STEM activities, engineering videos and meetings with engineers (STEM All) were implemented. Engineering Knowledge Level Scale, Draw an Engineer Scale and STEM Career Interest Questionnaire were used as data collection tools. As a result of the research, there was no statistical difference between the pre-test and post-test scores after the education in all classes. This indicates that activities emphasizing engineering both explicitly and implicitly did not have an impact on students' engineering knowledge. In the findings regarding interest in STEM professions, there was a statistically significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores of the students in the Science, Technology and Engineering dimensions of the measurement tool, except for the Mathematics dimension, and in the total score of the measurement tool in favor of the post-test. As a matter of fact, the main source of these differences can be said to be the STEM activities and the videos shown as well as the interviews with engineers. Finally, when the pre-drawings and post-drawings in the three classes are analyzed, it is seen that there is an increase in the number of female engineers in STEM activity + Video and STEM All classes. This is thought to be due to the fact that the education process was supported by videos and the engineers who came to the teaching environment were women. In other words, it is thought that the direct emphasis on female engineers is reflected in the students' drawings. It is thought that the results of this study will enable to increase the qualifications of STEM education with explicit and implicit approaches.