The effect of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education activities based on 5E model and integrated in the topic of transformation of electrical energy in science courses on the academic achievement and scientific process skills of secondary school 7th grade students

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education activities which are based on 5E Model and integrated in the topic of "Conversion of Electrical Energy" in the unit of "Electrical Energy" of the Science Course on the academic achievement and scientific process skills of primary school 7th grade students. This research study followed a mixed research design which combined qualitative and quantitative data. The research was designed in a quasi-experimental pattern model with a pre-test-post-test and control group. The research sample consists of 50 7th grade students studying at a secondary school in Mersin during 2017-2018 academic year. Of the 50 students 25 formed the control group and 25 the experimental one. The experimental group went through a STEM education lesson plan integrated in 5E instructional model, while the control group followed the current lesson plans as required by the administration. As the data collection instruments, both groups took an achievement test on "the conversion of electricity" (EEDKBT) and a test on scientific process skills (BSBT) both before and after the experimental period. The experimental group also filled in a Student Feedback Form to give their ideas about the STEM activities they went through. Quantitative data were analyzed through SPSS22 and content analysis was used to evaluate qualitative data. Results have shown that of the two groups, with equal pretest scores, the experimental group showed a statistically significant gain over the control in the post-test scores of EEDKBT and BSBT. Cohen's d values were calculated to determine the difference between the effect of the methods applied in the experimental and control groups and found to be 1.27 and 1.29, which is Large. The qualitative data obtained from the experimental group showed that the students' interest towards the course increased and that they learned with pleasure and that they wanted STEM applications to take place in other courses as well. In conclusion a program based on STEM activities based on 5E Model was proven to be more effective than the current program design in increasing students' academic achievement and scientific process skills. Keywords: STEM, 5E, academic achievement, scientific process skills