Investigation of STEM studies conducted in physics education in Turkey

The purpose of this study is investigate and evaluate the studies conducted in the field of STEM in Physics Education from various dimensions. In this study, systematic literature review method, one of the qualitative research methods, was used. The scope of this study consists of the examination and evaluation of 44 postgraduate theses that include 37 master's and 7 doctoral theses, written in the field of STEM including physics subjects, found in the National Thesis Center of the Higher Education Institution in Turkey between 2017-2021. The data collected within the scope of the research: Types of studies, publication years, institutes where the researchs were conducted, research methods, variables of the research, physics topics studied, approaches taken as basis, sampling types, study groups, data collection tools used in the researchs and distribution of statistical techniques used. The data collected within the scope of the research were analyzed in frequencies and percentages. It is understood that various skills, opinions, academic achievement, learning approaches, career, attitude and interest/perception are studied in the theses. Among the objectives of the studies, academic achievement, conceptual understanding level and attitude towards STEM were the most common objectives. The studies were conducted in 24 universities, mostly in the Institute of Educational Sciences, and these studies were concentrated in 2019. It was determined that mixed, quantitative and qualitative methods were mostly preferred in the studies, selected and random sampling was used, secondary school students and prospective teachers were frequently studied groups, and questionnaire/scale and interview (form) tools were frequently used as data collection tools. It was found that "achievement" and "21st century skills" were the most frequently used variables in the studies. The most studied physics subjects were electricity and mechanics. The design-based approach was preferred the most, and the 5E Model was used more as a model. Among the statistical methods used in data analysis, descriptive method was preferred the most. In the findings of the studies, it was seen that STEM applications increased students' academic achievement and it was recommended to increase the number of STEM studies. It is thought that the findings of this study will contribute to the literature in the field of STEM, which has an important role in the development of 21st century skills.