The effect of STEM (SOS) model implementations in science education on students' academic success and 21st century skills development

The aim of this research is to examine the effect of the science lesson, which is carried out with out-of-school activities in accordance with the STEM Students On the Stage (SOS) model, on the academic achievement and 21st century skills of the students studying at the 2nd level of primary education. In addition, students' opinions were sought in order to support quantitative data and conduct in-depth research. In this study, "pretest-posttest control group design", one of the experimental design models, was used to obtain quantitative data. While the independent variable of the research was science teaching integrated with the STEM SOS Model, the dependent variables were determined as academic achievement and 21st century skills. Qualitative data were obtained with semi-structured interview forms. The research group consists of 6th grade primary school students studying in a public school in Antalya Kepez district in Turkey in the 2020-2021 academic year. The research group consisted of a total of 30 students, 15 students (n=15) in the experimental group, where teaching with the STEM SOS Model was applied within the scope of the Matter and Heat unit, and 15 students (n=15) in the control group, where the teaching methods prescribed by the science curriculum were applied. In order to obtain quantitative data, the academic achievement test developed by the researcher based on the achievements in the Matter and Heat unit of the science course, semi-structured student interview form for the application developed by the researcher and Gülen, Ş. and Çakır, H. (2013) 21st century skills scale was used. Academic Achievement Test and 21st Century Skills Scale, which are used as quantitative data collection tools in the study, are divided into sub-dimensions. While analyzing the data, all sub-dimensions were analyzed separately. Independent t-test analysis was chosen to compare the pre- and post-test achievement and skill test scores of the groups. In addition, the statistical analyzes of the research were made using the SPSS 18.0 package program. The data obtained from the Semi-Structured Form used in the study were analyzed by content analysis method. In line with the quantitative findings obtained from the studies, the application of STEM SOS model to the 21st century students of the experimental group. It has been determined that it has a positive effect on their skills and academic achievement. The obtained qualitative data were subjected to content analysis. As a result of the content analysis, it was concluded that the students found the projects prepared in accordance with the STEM SOS model useful and that these projects had many benefits. Positive effects were observed, such as the students having fun and being happy while preparing their projects. In addition, it was observed that the projects prepared in accordance with the STEM SOS model were completed by all students at level I and level II, while only one project was completed at level III. In line with these results, suggestions were made for new research to be carried out.