Investigating the effects of design thinking based STEM activities on students' computational and creative thinking skills and STEM motivation

In this study, the effects of STEM activities structured through the design thinking approach on students' computational thinking, creative thinking, and STEM motivation were examined in the context of the gender variable. The research was conducted during the 2024–2025 academic year at a middle school in Kastamonu, Türkiye, with 7th-grade students using a quasi-experimental design. The experimental and control groups were each composed of 35 students, taking into account the ease of access to participants, the presence of two different 7th-grade classes at the school, and the availability of interdisciplinary courses such as Mathematics and Science Applications or similar programs. Pre-test and post-test measurements were applied to both experimental and control groups. The data collection tools included the Computational Thinking Scale, the Scientific Creativity Scale, and the STEM Motivation Scale. The data were analyzed using Repeated Measures General Linear Model (GLM), considering the variables of time (pre-test–post-test), group (experimental–control), and gender. As a result of the analyses, a significant increase was observed in the computational thinking scores of students in the experimental group, while a more limited increase was noted in the control group. In the experimental group, both female and male students showed improvement, and this development was consistent across the group. In contrast, more pronounced individual differences were observed in the control group. Regarding the creativity variable, a significant increase was found in the experimental group, which occurred among both female and male students, although some subgroups showed higher levels of improvement. In the control group, creativity scores either increased slightly or declined in some subgroups. Additionally, a statistically significant interaction between group and gender was found for the creativity variable. In terms of STEM motivation, a significant increase was observed in the experimental group. This increase was evident in both genders, although more pronounced in certain gender subgroups. In the control group, changes in STEM motivation were limited, with scores either remaining stable or increasing only slightly. The analyses also revealed statistically significant results in some combinations of time, group, and gender variables regarding STEM motivation. Overall, at the end of the implementation process, students in the experimental group demonstrated significant and positive changes in computational thinking, creativity, and STEM motivation, and most of these changes were supported by statistically significant group and gender interactions. In contrast, development in the control group remained limited, and significant differences were not observed in some variables. The findings indicate that interdisciplinary and student-centered design-oriented STEM activities are effective in enhancing students' creative and computational thinking skills and increasing their motivation toward STEM. These results suggest that integrating the design thinking approach with structured STEM activities more widely and systematically in educational settings may offer substantial benefits for students.