The investigation of the relationships among elementary school students' STEM attitudes, perceptions, problem solving and enquiry learning skills

The aim of this study is to investigate how the perceptions and attitudes of students towards Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) vary according to gender and class, and to examine the relationships between these variables with their perceptions about problem-solving skills and enquiry learning skills. The research was conducted in the spring semester of the 2017-2018 academic year. The study was carried out by quantitative research methods and with 646 students attending 5th, 6th and 7th grades in the elementary schools in Tokat, Turkey. In the study, data were collected with "STEM Perception Test", "STEM Attitude Scale ", "Problem Solving Skills Perception Test" and "Enquiry Learning Skills Perception towards Science Scale". According to the findings of the research, when STEM Perception Test results were evaluated, STEM perception of female students were higher than males, and STEM perception increased as grade levels increased. According to the results of the STEM Attitude Scale, there was a significant difference between the students in favor of males, and it was observed that there was a decrease in STEM attitudes as grade levels increased. According to the results of the Problem Solving Skills Perception Reception Test, male students' perception of Problem Solving Skills was higher than that of female students, there was a significant difference between the grade 5 and grade 7 students. A significant difference was found between the Enquiry Learning Skills of the female students and the male students, and there was no statistically significant difference between the grades. When the relationship between the perception of Problem Solving Skills and perception of STEM was examined, it was found that there was a negative and significant relationship between them. The relationship between the perception of Problem Solving Skills and STEM Attitudes showed that there was a positive and significant relationship between the students' problem-solving skills and STEM attitudes. According to the relationship between Enquiry Learning Skills Perception and STEM Perception, there was no significant relationship between them. According to the relationship between Enquiry Learning Skills Perceptions and STEM Attitudes, it was found that there was a positive and significant relationship between the students' perceptions of enquiry learning skills and their STEM attitudes. It is foreseen that the results of this research will be the pioneer in taking steps towards developing STEM-related skills in the curricula and school applications, and the effectiveness of STEM education can be increased considerig the abovementioned relationships.