The effect of robotics-supported engineering design-based 2E-STEM education on computational thinking and entrepreneurship characteristics

In this study, the effect of robotics-supported engineering design-based 2E-STEM education on the computational thinking and entrepreneurship characteristics of pre-service science teachers was examined. In the study in which static-group pretest-posttest design was used, qualitative data were collected to describe the education process as well as quantitative data. The study group consisted of 4th grade pre-service science teachers (57 people) studying at Akdeniz University Faculty of Education in the fall semester of the 2023-2024 academic year. There were 31 pre-service teachers in the experimental group and 26 pre-service teachers in the control group. In the experimental group, (robotics-supported engineering design-based) E+E-STEM education developed by the researcher was applied, while in the control group, environmental education was carried out with generally preferred teaching methods and the research lasted 11 weeks. "Computational Thinking Scale", "Entrepreneurship Scale", "Activity Sheets", "Individual Development Notes", "Project Result Reports" and "Project Review Form" were used as data collection tools. While paired-samples t-test, ANCOVA and MANCOVA were used to analyze quantitative data, descriptive analysis was used to analyze qualitative data. During the process, it was observed that the experimental and control groups carried out joint tasks to research and examine sample environmental projects and gained knowledge about the possible stages in a project and the characteristics that an entrepreneurial individual has/should have. In addition, in the experimental group, it was determined that an educational environment was created in which they experienced the engineering design-based entrepreneurial project development process from an interdisciplinary perspective due to the interdisciplinary nature of environmental problems and used the mentioned skills. In addition, although not directly included in the application in the experimental group, it was observed that the stages of computational thinking developed spontaneously in the process. According to the findings related to inferential analysis, an increase was observed in favor of the post-tests in the pre-test-post-test comparisons of both computational thinking and entrepreneurship scores, and it was determined that the increases observed in the experimental group were significant. In the post-test comparisons of both computational thinking and entrepreneurship scores, a significant difference was found between the scores in favor of the experimental group post-test scores. As a result, when the experimental and control groups are compared, in the absence of applied education in which individuals take an active role in the process, although an environment based on research and inquiry is created, their skill acquisition and development will be insufficient because individuals cannot directly experience the information. With the use of the robotics-assisted engineering design-based 2E-STEM idea developed in this study, educational environments for sustainable environment can be created through a robotics-supported engineering design-based interdisciplinary process by considering sustainable development with environmental (Environmental discipline), social and economic (Entrepreneurship discipline) dimensions. Keywords: Sustainable Development, Education for Sustainable Environment, 21st Century Skills, E+E-STEM