Examination of preschool teachers' practices and opinions on stem education

Technology has been continuously developing from the past to the present and has become an indispensable part of people's daily lives. In order to keep up with these developments and contribute to the field of technology, it is necessary to follow the changes in education. It is seen that the STEM approach, which also includes the discipline of technology, has become popular in the field of education in the world. This study aims to examine the practices and views of preschool teachers on STEM education. In this study, the embedded design, which is one of the mixed method designs, was used. The application process of the study was carried out with 30 preschool teachers in a way that would be learning outside the school for 10 weeks. The qualitative data of the study were obtained using semi-structured interview forms and researcher diaries, and the quantitative data were obtained through the "Social Product General Rubric". The qualitative data were analyzed using the content analysis method and the quantitative data were analyzed using the SPSS program. As a result of the analyzes, it was seen that the teachers who participated in the application increased their knowledge and experience regarding STEM education, their prejudices were broken, and they understood the activity design processes. The teachers stated that the STEM approach and activities were fun, productive and useful.