STEM (Science, technology, engineering, mathematics) implementations to improve the students' vocational mathematics success regarding their branch in vocational high schools

Today, in the era of information and technology, the needs of countries and the quality of the required labor force that are needed to meet these needs have changed considerably when we compare with the last century. In line with these changes, the countries that have or aim to have a voice in the industry and technology started to implement educational programs and methods to the new generations they have cultivated. In Turkey, the education particularly in the schools that deliver formal education is inadequate and ineffective for the workforce that is needed for the requirements that our age needed and there are different research and reports prepared by the researchers and organizations that need to be reviewed and should be tailored considering the workforce needed for today and in the future. Science, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education has a vital and effective role among the educational reforms for the workforce growth. Vocational and technical secondary schools are the schools where the transition from education to workplace could be observed clearly in Turkey. When the relevant literature is examined, there is not any study on STEM education in mathematics in the vocational schools in Turkey. In this study, the potential effects of STEM applications and mathematics education drawing on STEM on vocational students' vocational mathematics success and their interest in STEM education. In this research, using a mixed methodology, pre- and post-test as semi-experimental quantitative method and content and document analyses were performed. The quantitative data were obtained using STEM Career Interest Survey and Vocational Mathematics Success Test. The qualitative data were collected through thematic analysis, observation protocol and document analysis. The experimental group in this study consisted of 64 11th -grade vocational students who were studying in the Vocational and Technical Higher Education in a large city located at South Marmara region. There were 32 students in the experimental group and 32 students were in the control group, three of the participants were administrative staff and 22 of the participants were teachers. In the beginning of this research, STEM Career Interest Test and Mathematics Success Test were applied as pre-test to the students both in the experimental and control groups. Both teachers and students in this study were provided with information about STEM education and STEM applications. A SWOT analysis was conducted on the participants concerning STEM education which was planned to be applied. Considering the SWOT analysis results, vocational course books and educational programs were examined to design course programs for the development and application of the STEM module. While the mathematics courses were based on STEM in the intervention group, traditional mathematics education was followed in the control group in this study. After the applications, STEM Career Interest Test and Mathematics Success Test were applied as post-test to the students both in the experimental and control groups. In addition, students in the experimental group filled a form to write their perceptions about STEM education application process. In this study, the findings showed that the students' attitudes in Science, Engineering and Mathematics and interest in career and job choices in the STEM subjects increased in the experimental group. In the vocational Mathematics success test, there was a significant difference between pre-test and post-tests among the students in the experimental and control groups whose pre-tests results were similar. Students' opinions regarding STEM education after STEM module was positive considerably in the experimental group. In light of the findings in this study, there are recommendations to the researchers, teachers and program developers.