Investigation of the relationship between primary school 4th grade students' conceptions of learning and attitudes towards STEM education

This research aims to analyze the relationship between primary school 4th grade students' conceptions of learning and their attitudes towards STEM education. This descriptive research was carried out using the relational screening model. The population of the research consists of 19506 4th-grade students studying in official primary schools in the central districts of Şanlıurfa in the 2019-2020 academic year. The sampling of the research consists of 460 primary school 4th-grade students selected by the stratified sampling method. One of the data collection tools used in the research, "Conceptions of Learning Scale of Primary Education Students" consists of 3 dimensions and 15 items and "Attitude Scale towards STEM" consists of 4 dimensions and 19 items. The data obtained from the study were analyzed with the SPSS package software. In the analysis of the data; Independent Sample t-Test, One-Way Variance Analysis (ANOVA), Kruskal Wallis-H test, Tukey test and Mann-Whitney U test were used. Besides, Multiple Linear Regression Analysis was performed to determine the levels of predicting dependent variables by independent variables. As a result of the research; when the general conceptions of primary school 4th grade students towards learning were analyzed, it was observed that the students' participation in all dimensions and their total conceptions of learning, including "learning as gaining and using knowledge", "learning as social skills" and "learning as personal changing" were at a high level. When the general attitudes of primary school 4th grade students towards STEM were analyzed, their attitudes towards science, mathematics and technology were at a high level and their attitudes towards engineering were at a medium level; furthermore, it was seen that their total attitude towards STEM was at a high level. Among the conceptions of learning of primary school 4th grade students; there was no remarkable difference in terms of gender, parental education levels, the availability of their study room at home and a computer or tablet, parental occupations, and the occupational variables that they wanted to choose when they grew up; according to the availability of internet at home, there was a notable difference. Among the attitudes of primary school 4th grade students towards STEM; there is a significant difference in the way of the situation of having his own study room at home; in terms of gender, parental educational levels, availability of a computer or tablet, internet availability at home, parental professions and occupational variables that it wants to choose, STEM has a significant difference only in certain dimensions. In conclusion, it was observed that the variations "learning as acquiring and using knowledge", "learning as personal change" and "learning as social skills" together explained 31% of the change in attitudes towards STEM and that they were meaningful predictors of attitudes towards STEM. Keywords: Primary school education, primary school 4th grade students, conceptions of learning, STEM education attitude