The effect of the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) based activities on the 5th grade students' association of the concepts i̇n the substance and change unit with the daily life

The objective of this study is to research the effect of the STEM activities in the 5th grade substance and change unit on the students' association of the concepts with the daily life. In addition, the determining of the student views on the activities and the effects of activities on students' academic achievement are the sub-objectives of the study, as well. In this direction, five STEM activities including the Substance and Change Unit acquisitions were developed, implemented and the student opinions were asked related to the activities. In this study, the Mixed Method consisting of the simple experimental method and the integrated single case from case study pattern was used. The sample of the study consisted of 27 students (13 girls, 14 boys) from the 5th grade students of a state school, where the students having a moderate level of socioeconomic status were receiving education, in the 2017-2018 academic year. On the other hand, the study group consisted of seven randomly selected students (3 girls, 4 boys). The activities were carried out for five weeks during the study process. The data collection tools of the study consisted of Test for Solving the Daily Life Problem Solving Skills Test (DLPSST), semi-structured interview form, activity papers, video records and researcher field notes developed by the researcher. The data obtained by the DLPSST was analyzed by the parametric tests and the data obtained from the interview form were analyzed by the content analysis. "The Evaluation of the Engineering Designed Process Scoring Rubric (NASA, 2015) was used to evaluate the change in students' ability to solve the daily life problems. As a result of the study, a significant difference was found between the pretest and post-test points of the students. In addition, an increase was seen in the EDPER points of the students from the beginning to the end of the study. It has been determined that the students have positive opinions related to the activities such as being entertaining, increasing the success, increasing their social skills and put what they have learned what they have learned into practice in daily life: and It was concluded that the students have the opinion that the STEM based applications will be useful in the other science subjects and other courses.