STEM in science education: A content analysis study

The fact that a large number of studies have been conducted on STEM today has revealed the necessity of establishing a general framework on this subject. The aim of this study; It is the examination of postgraduate theses on STEM applications in science education in Turkey between the years 2014-2021. Theses were analyzed by content analysis method. Theses examined within the scope of the research; analyzed by type, year of publication, gender of consultants and responsible authors, title of advisor, number of bibliography, source currency, type of source, number of pages, universities and institutes, provinces, duration of research, "STEM" usage style, method, design, sampling method, sampling method. Group, sample size, research topic, data collection tools, data analysis method, objectives and results. Codes were given to the studies and the data obtained as a result of the coding were transferred to the Excel program. The percentages of the data were calculated, figures and tables were created. As a result of the research; It has been seen that master's theses aremore than doctoral theses, thesis studies are the most in 2019, the gender of the supervisors and responsible authors are women, and the titles of advisors are Assoc. Dr. It has been seen that the number of bibliography is between 101-150 at most, and the most out-of-date and domestic sources are used in the bibliography. It has been determined that the maximum number of pages of the theses is between 101-150, the most doctoral thesis work belongs to Gazi University, the master thesis work belongs to Van Yüzüncü Yıl University, and the most work belongs to the Institute of Educational Sciences. It has been determined that most of the doctoral thesis studies are done in Ankara, while the master's thesis studies are done in Istanbul. In the studies, it was observed that the application period was between 6 weeks and 10 weeks at the most, the concept of STEM was used the most, and it was expressed as "STEM applications". It was determined that the mixed method was mostly used in the studies and the variation design was preferred over the mixed method design. It was determined that the most appropriate sampling method was used among the sampling methods in the studies, and the sample level of the secondary school (5th-8th grades) was the most studied. Data were collected mostly by using scales in theses and it was seen that t-test was mostly used for data analysis. According to the aims of the studies, it was seen that the contribution to academic success was the most, and the most STEM attitude was examined in the master's thesis studies. It was concluded that the results of the doctoral thesis studies made a positive contribution to the scientific creativity skills the most, and that it contributed positively to the academic success in the master's thesis studies.