The effect of STEM education on twenty-first century skills on out-of-school learning environments

The aim of this study is to evaluate how STEM education affects the development of twenty-first-century skills in students who participate in an out-of-school learning program. Twenty students who are attending the fourth grade in formal education and attending Çankırı Belediyesi Fatih Sultan Mehmet Çocuk Akademisi participated in the weak experimental design implementation of the study. The students participated in a ten-week STEM program provided by the academy. To assess the effects of the program, a twenty-first-century skills scale was administered to the students before and after the application. The study used a mixed research method, and ten students were randomly selected for interviews after the program to obtain more in-depth information about twenty-first-century skills and further deepen the evaluations. The quantitative data analysis results showed that there was no significant difference in the twenty-first-century skills of the students before and after the application. However, the qualitative data analysis revealed that the students have quite high skill levels in cognitive, affective, and sociocultural areas.