The development and evaluate the effect of STEAM activities supported with web 2.0 tools for preschool students

The main of this research is to development STEAM activities supported by Web 2.0 tools for preschool students, to implement the developed STEAM activities and to examine their effectiveness. In the research, multi-stage mixed design, which is one of the mixed method research approaches, was used. The research consists of three stages in total. In the first stage of the research, the needs for STEAM education in the pre-school period were determined, and in the second stage, STEAM activities supported by Web 2.0 tools were designed. In the third stage, its effectiveness was examined. The research was carried out in the province of Elazig in the 2021-2022 academic year. In the research, different study groups were formed for each stage by using the purposive sampling method. The study group of the first stage consists of 10 preschool teachers, the study group of the second stage consists of nine preschool students, and the study group of the third stage consists of 26 preschool students, 13 of which are experimental and 13 control. Quantitative data of the study were collected with Scientific Process Skills Test, Problem Solving Skills Scale for Children and Early Childhood Creativity Scale. As for the qualitative data of the research, semi-structured interviews were collected with the researcher's diary and observation forms. In the analysis of quantitative data, Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test and Man Whitney U-Test for Related Samples were performed using SPSS 25 package program. In the analysis of qualitative veri, descriptive and content analysis were used. In the first stage of the research; It was found that STEAM activities to be carried out for preschool students should be appropriate for age/level, selected according to student interest, and include science and mathematics subjects. It was concluded that the STEAM activity process should be gamified, children should have fun in the process, children should be put in the center, it should be started with the problem situation, it should be supported with art and it should be supported with technological tools. In the second stage of the research; It has been concluded that STEAM activities enriched with Web 2.0 tools developed for preschool students are successful, attract students' attention and have positive effects on students. In the third stage of the research; It has been found that STEAM activities supported by Web 2.0 tools have a significant effect on students' scientific process creativity and problem solving skills compared to classical paper and pencil activities. It was stated by the researcher preschool teacher and parents that there was an increase in students' creativity skills, communication skills, cooperation skills, technology literacy, leadership and questioning skills. The teacher and researcher stated that the students had fun during the activity and the activities attracted their attention. They also stated that their self-confidence, motivation, communication skills, cooperation skills, taking responsibility and leadership characteristics increased in the process. As a result, it can be said that many skills of preschool students can be supported by using STEAM activities.