Developing attitude scale towards STEM education for primary school candidates and investigation of primary school candidates' attitudes towards STEM education in terms of various variables

In this study, it was tried to determine the change of attitudes towards STEM according to different scale according to the scale developed to determine the attitudes of classroom teacher candidates towards STEM education. The research is a descriptive study and survey method is used. The sample of the study is composed of 330 classroom teachers who are studying at Bülent Ecevit University and Hacı Bektaş Veli University. Personal data form, STEM scale, California Critical Thinking Disposition Scale and Problem Solving Scale were used to collect data. Qualitative data obtained from data collection forms were analyzed by using t-test (Independent Simple t Test) and one-way ANOVA for unrelated groups in SPSS 21.0 Packet statistics program. In addition, arithmetic mean and standard deviation values of the data were calculated and tabulated. The findings of the study showed that there was a significant difference in STEM by gender, STEM sub-dimensions, science and engineering dimension, STEM, critical and problem solving tendency according to the variable of the type of school they graduated. A significant difference was observed in the field of mathematics when we examined the type of school they graduated according to STEM sub-dimensions. While there was a significant difference in STEM and problem solving tendency according to the grade level variable, a significant difference was observed in science, engineering, mathematics and technology dimensions according to STEM sub-dimensions. Key Words: STEM, critical thinking skills, problem solving skills, integrated STEM training