Effects of concept cartoon assisted problem based science, technology, engineering and mathematics (stem) activities on 5th grade science teaching

STEM education, which is considered to have significant effect on providing students with 21st century skills, has gained importance in our country as in all world. Enabling students to experience STEM educational applications holds great importance in improving the scientific research and technological development capacity of our country, in addition to its social and economic development. The aim of this research is to determine the effect of problem based STEM activities aided by concept cartoons on academic success and conceptual comprehension levels of 5th grade secondary school students and their perception of engineering and technology. Single group pretest-posttest experimental design among quantitative research methods was used in the study. The study group consists of 17 fifth grade students receiving education in a state school in Manisa Province Akhisar District as of 2017-2018 academic year. Research data were collected using academic success test, conceptual comprehension test, "what is engineering" and "what is technology" scales and "draw an engineer" test. The validity and reliability studies for the "academic success" and "conceptual comprehension" tests, developed by the researcher, were also performed in the work. The STEM activities for 5th grade "Measuring Force and Friction" unit were performed within the frame of "scientific practices" course. Practical education took 2 weekly course hours for a period of 10 weeks, amounting to a total period of 20 course hours. During the STEM activities, students dealt with concept cartoon aided problem based learning scenarios in peer groups. The students in the study group used the engineering design process steps to design solutions for the problems addressed in the scenario. The work sheets prepared by the researcher were used during the applications. Data collection tools were used as pretest and posttest before and after the practical activities, respectively. Non-parametric tests, frequency and percentage analyses and descriptive analysis were used during data analysis. The results showed that, the performed activities resulted in a statistically significant increase in the academic success and conceptual comprehension levels of the participating students. No statistically significant difference was detected between the female and male students' academic success and conceptual comprehension levels after the practical activities. Also, the students' perception of engineers and technology were found to be positively influenced by the performed activities. The students that generally depicted repairmen or construction workers in their preliminary drawings were found to illustrate producing and designing engineers in their final drawings. Also, the stereotypical perception of male engineer depicted in the preliminary drawings was found to be mitigated and the perception of female engineer increased in the final drawings. Recommendations as to the effective use of problem-based learning during STEM education were proposed in line with the obtained findings.