Investigation of the effect of stem education on middle school students' interest in STEM professions, scientific creativity and motivation for science learning

The purpose of this research; this course aims to investigate the effects of STEM applications conducted with eighth-grade students within the scope of the Science Applications course on students' interest in STEM professions, their scientific creativity, and their motivation to learn science. At the same time, students' views on STEM activities and the implementation process were also examined. The study was conducted with a mixed research design in which quantitative and qualitative research techniques were used together. In the quantitative part of the study, the pretest-posttest control group quasi-experimental design was used, and the case study was used in the qualitative part. The participants of the study consist of a total of 98 eighth grade students studying in the last year of a state middle school. Six classes were included in the study, three experimental groups and three control groups were randomly assigned from these classes, and the research process was carried out in the science applications course in twelve weeks. While teaching with STEM activities was applied to the experimental group, the content of the science applications course curriculum was applied to the control group. The groups were not affected by each other, and the lesson times were treated equally in all groups. The implementation process was carried out in the spring semester of the 2018-2019 academic year. Within the scope of the research, activities are limited to "Space Researches, Human and Environment Relationship, Domestic Waste and Recycling, Matter and Heat, Let's Get to Know the Living, Connecting Types of Bulbs, Electric Circuits and Energy Conversions" subjects. The quantitative data of the research; It was obtained from the "Interest Scale for Science, Technology, Mathematics and Engineering Professions", the "Scientific Creativity Test" and the "Motivation Scale for Science Learning". The qualitative data of the research; has been obtained from the "Activity Interview Form", "Activity Evaluation Form" and "Focus Group İnterview" with students. To test whether there is a significant difference between the interest in STEM professions, scientific creativity, and motivation for learning science among the experimental and control groups, the obtained data were analyzed by t-test for independent groups. t-test for dependent groups was used to test the difference between pre-test and post-test scores of the experimental and control groups themselves. The qualitative data obtained during the research process were analyzed using descriptive analysis, which is a qualitative data analysis technique. When the research results are examined; It was determined that there was a significant increase in the experimental group's interest in STEM professions, scientific creativity, and motivation towards science learning compared to the control group. According to these results, it can be said that the STEM activity practices carried out in the study contributed to the students' interest in STEM professions, their scientific creativity, and their motivation to learn science. According to the results obtained from the student opinions; ıt was determined that most of the students were successful in the activities and they participated in the activities with high motivation. It was determined that the STEM activities carried out improved the students' interpretation and analysis skills towards science subjects by changing the perspective of the events. However, the students also emphasized that the STEM activities performed were different from the activities they did in other courses and that they took their own decisions and responsibilities in this process.