Investigation of the relationship between STEM awareness and the levels of pedagogical development for mathematics teaching of class teacher candidates

STEM applications and applicability are increasing day by day, a method that meets the requirements of the age emerges as a model. It is important for teachers and teacher candidates who implement these applications to increase the usefulness of the applications, to be aware of them and to see their reflections on their students. It is thought that there is no study for this awareness and that such a study will contribute to the literature and will guide further research. The problem situation of the research is "Is there a significant difference between the scores of primary school teacher candidates in STEM Awareness and Pedagogical Development sub-dimensions, according to various variables (gender, school from which they graduated, grade level they attend)?" determined to be. In this study, the scanning model, which is one of the quantitative research methods, was used because it was aimed to provide a quantitative description of the universe. 187 classroom teacher candidates were included in the study. Data were collected with the "STEM Awareness Scale" and "Pedagogical Development Scale". Quantitative data collected through scales in data analysis were analyzed using SPSS 21. In sub-problems, t-test and Kruskall Wallis H test and Pearson product-moment correlation results were found for independent groups. The findings of the study determined that the pedagogical development levels of primary school teacher candidates did not show a significant difference according to gender, class level and family monthly income. It is observed that STEM awareness of primary school teacher candidates differs according to gender. As a result of the analysis, it was determined that the average of female classroom teacher candidates was higher than the average of male classroom teacher candidates. There was no significant difference in STEM awareness according to class level and family monthly income levels. Another result is that there is a strong positive relationship between the scores of effective mathematics teaching and the regulation of critical thinking and learning environment, regulations regarding the mathematics program, and the approaches on which the mathematics program is based. In other words, it can be said that pre-service teachers with a high level of pedagogical development have positive STEM awareness.