The effect of STEAM based teaching techniques on the conceptual changes and successes of secondary school students on rational numbers

The aim of this research is to investigate the effects of STEAM-based teaching techniques on 7th-grade students' mathematics course achievement and attitudes. The research was carried out with the participation of 36 students studying in 7th grade in the academic year of 2019-2020. In the research, the pretest-posttest group design, which is one of the semi-experimental designs, was used. At the beginning of the research, "Rational Numbers Multiple Choice Success Test" and "Mathematics Attitude Scale" were applied. It was observed that the selected classes did not make a significant difference with each other. Stories, worksheets, evaluation questions, and videos that are prepared according to the STEAM approach, are applied to experimental group. In the control group, teaching was done by adhering to the current mathematics education program. At the end of the study, "Rational Numbers Multiple Choice Success Test" and "Mathematics Attitude Scale" applied to both groups to examine differences between them. "STEM Attitude Scale" applied only to the experimental group. Data were analized via SPSS22.00 package program. As a result of this research, there are no significant differences between groups' mathematical achievements. It is observed that there are positive attitude changes towards mathematic on the experimental group compared to the control group. The results of the STEM Attitude Scale is showed that students have positive attitudes towards STEAM fields.