Effects of STEM applications on 8th grade students' science achievement, entrepreneurship skills and STEM career perceptions

The current research aims to investigate the effects of STEM applications integrated with the engineering design process on 8th-grade students' science achievement, entrepreneurial skills, and STEM career perceptions. In this research, a quasi-experimental design with a pre-test and post-test unequal control group, one of the quantitative research designs, was used. The sample for the research was selected from a public school located in Afyonkarahisar province, using the convenient sampling method, one of the non-random sampling types. Thirty-seven students participated in the research: 18 in the experimental group and 19 in the control group. While two STEM applications integrated with the engineering design process, including the units "Simple Machines" and "Electric Charges and Electric Energy," were applied to the experimental group, the same units were taught to the control group through curriculum-based teaching. The implementation process of the research lasted six weeks, totaling 20 hours. Demographic Information Survey, Science Achievement Test, Science-Based Entrepreneurship Scale, and STEM Career Perception Scale, which were used as data collection tools in the research, were administered to the experimental and control groups as pre-tests and post-tests. Statistical analyses examined the effects of STEM applications integrated with the engineering design process on 8th-grade students' science achievement, entrepreneurial skills, and STEM career perceptions. In line with the results obtained from the data analysis, no statistically significant difference was detected in the science achievements of the experimental and control group students. On the other hand, it was determined that STEM applications integrated with the engineering design process increased the entrepreneurial skills and interest of the experimental group students statistically and positively. The research results were examined in detail, and suggestions were made for future research, practitioners, and teachers in line with these findings.