Investigation of preservice science teachers' STEM lesson plan development and implementation process

This study aimed to examine the effect of STEM lesson plan development and implementation process on pre-service science teachers' attitudes towards STEM, integrated STEM teaching intentions and understandings, and computational thinking skills, as well as to analyze the STEM lesson plans prepared during this process. The research was designed using an embedded mixed-methods design, which is one of the mixed-methods patterns that combines quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data were collected to determine the impact of STEM lesson plan development and implementation process, while qualitative data were collected to deeply analyze participants' integrated STEM teaching understandings and the changes in STEM lesson plans they prepared. In the process of collecting quantitative data, the "STEAM Attitude Scale," "Integrated FeTeMM Teaching Intention Scale," and "Computational Thinking Scale" were used. The qualitative data were collected using the "STEM Integration Curriculum Assessment Tool" and a semi-structured focus group interview form. Criterion sampling, one of the purposeful sampling methods, was used to determine the study group. The study group consisted of 34 pre-service science teachers ongoing their education in the third grade. Prior to the main implementation process, a 12-week pilot implementation was conducted, and based on the identified deficiencies, the main implementation process was designed. The implementation process consisted of a total of 16 weeks with 80 class hours. At the beginning of the implementation, participants were provided with theoretical knowledge about STEM teaching. The participants, divided into five groups, were asked to develop and implement STEM lesson plans in the classroom where their peers were students. Before and after the implementation, scales were administered to the study group, and focus group interviews were conducted. The STEM lesson plans prepared by the groups were examined by experts, and feedback was given to the participants. Based on the feedback, the participants revised their STEM lesson plans and implemented them in the classroom. From the STEM lesson plans and focus group interviews, a total of nine categories were obtained: "Motivating and Engaging Context," "Engineering Design Challenge," "Integration of Science Content," "Integration of Mathematics Content," "Instructional Strategies," "Teamwork," "Communication," "Performance and Formative Assessment," and "Organization." Based on the findings, it was determined that the STEM lesson plan development and implementation process significantly and positively affected pre-service science teachers' attitudes towards STEM, integrated STEM teaching orientations, and computational thinking skills. When analyzing the final interviews, it was found that pre-service science teachers' integrated STEM teaching understandings improved during this process. Examination of the STEM lesson plans revealed that the scores obtained from the final lesson plans were higher than those obtained from the initial lesson plans, indicating that pre-service teachers improved in terms of STEM lesson plan preparation and the quality of STEM lesson plans increased during this process. The findings obtained from the research were presented in detail by direct quotations and were discussed with support from the literature. At the end of the study, recommendations were made for researchers, experts involved in teacher education programs and future implementations.