Examination of the relationship between STEM attitude skills and engineering knowledge levels of secondary school students (Example of Uşak province of its districts)

The aim of this research is to examine the relationship between secondary school 5-6-7-8th grade students' attitudes towards STEM and their engineering knowledge levels in the case of Uşak Province and its districts. In addition, they were examined their attitudes towards STEM and their Engineering knowledge levels, according to some independent variables (gender, grade level, mother's education level, father's education level, whether they are aware of STEM). Furthermore, it has been reviewed whether there is a significant relationship between students' STEM attitudes and their Engineering knowledge levels. The relational scanning model was used to determine the relationship between STEM attitudes and Engineering Knowledge Levels of the students as a model in the study. In line with the purpose of the study, they were used the STEM attitude scale consisting of 28 items, developed by Guzey, Harwell and Moore (2014) and adapted to Turkish by Aydın, Saka and Guzey (2017) and the MBD4-5 scales consisting of 10 items and MBD6-8 scales consisting of 15 items developed by Harwell, Guzey, Moreno, Moore, Philips and Roehring (2015) and adapted to Turkish by Aydın, Saka and Guzey (2018). In addition, personal information form was used in order to obtain information about with students' research problems. The research was applied to a total of 723 secondary school, 5-6-7 and 8th grade students, of whom 368 were female and 355 were male students studying in public secondary schools in the Uşak province and its districts. The results obtained from the research were analyzed through statistical package program. At the end of the research it was arrived at the conclusion that while the attitudes of 5-6-7 and 8th grade students towards STEM do not make any difference according to their sex, there is a significant difference in engineering knowledge levels in favor of 5th grade students and 6-7-8th grade female students. Looking at the variables of students' grade levels, it was observed that the 6-7 and 8th grade students did not make a significant difference in their attitudes towards STEM, whereas there was a significant difference in MBD and that this was due to 8th grade students. It was concluded that the relationship between the educational status of the students' mothers and their attitudes towards STEM and MBD did not make a significant difference for 5-6-7 and 8th grade students. When the education level of the students' fathers and the student relationship with STEM and the MBD are examined, it was concluded that there is no significant difference between the father's education levels of the 5th grade students and their attitudes towards STEM and MBD, while there was a significant difference between the father's education levels of the 6-7-8 grade students and their attitudes towards STEM and MBD. It was understood that this situation was caused by the students whose fathers' education level were the undergraduate level. In terms of awareness of 5-6-7 and 8th grade students about STEM, there is no significant difference in their attitudes towards STEM and their MBD. Considering the correlation analysis between STEM attitudes of students and their level of engineering knowledge, it was concluded that there was no significant relationship between STB and MBD of 5th grade students. It was concluded that there is a significant but weak relationship between STB and MBD of the 6-7-8th grade students. KEY WORDS: STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematic), FeTeMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics), MBD (Engineering Knowledge Level), MBDÖ4-5 (Engineering Knowledge Level Scale, 4 and 5th grades), MBDÖ6-8 (Engineering Knowledge Level Scale 6-7-8th Grades), STB (STEM Attitude Skills) Science Education