Investigation of prospective science teachers 21st century skills competence perceptions and attitudes toward STEM

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between Science Teacher candidates' 21st century skills competence perceptions and their attitudes towards STEM as well as 21st century skills competence perceptions and STEM attitudes. Relational screening model was used in the study. In the 2016-2017 academic year, the sample of the research is the senior students of Science Education of Fırat, Cumhuriyet, Erciyes, Muş Alparslan, Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli Universities. In order to determine the attitudes towards STEM and the "21st Century Skills Proficiency Perception Scale for Teacher Candidates" developed by Anagün, Atalay, Kılıç and Yaşar (2016) to determine 21st century skill perceptions in order to collect data in the research, Faber et al. (STEM Attitude Scale) which was developed by Yıldırım and Selvi (2015) and adapted to Turkish language was used. In addition, information on the gender and registered universities of the participants was obtained through the information form prepared by the researchers. In the analysis of the data, diagnostic analyzes, t-test, One-way ANOVA, Mann Whitney U test (MWU), Kruskal Wallis test (KWH) and Pearson Correlation analyzes were used. According to the research findings, it has been determined that the science teacher candidates frequently participate in the 21st Century skills self-efficacy perceptions in the dimensions of "learning and regeneration skills", "life and career skills" and "knowledge, media and technology skills". According to research findings, there was no significant difference in the 21st century skills competence perception scale subscale of learning and regeneration skills in terms of gender variation. The subscales of scale, life and career skills and knowledge, media and technology skills subscales have significant results in favor of female science teacher candidates according to sex variables. It is observed that science teachers' opinions on 21st century skills proficiency perception scale do not differ in terms of learning and regeneration skills and life and career skills sub-dimensions according to the enrolled university. It turns out that there are significant differences in favor of Erciyes University in terms of knowledge, media and technology skills subscale of the scale. According to the findings obtained from the research, it was determined that the attitudes of the teacher candidates towards STEM were generally positive. There was no difference in the attitudes of women and men towards STEM according to gender variable. Science Teacher candidates' attitudes towards STEM scale were found to be different in favor of Erciyes University in terms of science and 21st Century Abilities sub-dimensions according to the enrolled university. It was determined that science teachers' teacher candidates had a low and moderate positive relationship between 21st century skills competence perceptions and attitude subscales towards STEM. Based on the findings of the study, recommendations for improving 21st Century skills and STEM trainings were presented within teacher training programs. Key Words: 21st Century Skills, STEM, Science Teacher Candidate