The effect of STEM applications on gianted primary students

The aim of this research is to determine the effect of Stem applications on the basic Stem skills, Stem-oriented attitudes and problem solving skills of gifted primary school students. The research was designed using a sequential explanatory design, one of the mixed research designs. In this direction, qualitative and quantitative data were collected together, but their analyzes were made separately. In the quantitative part of the study, a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design was used without a control group. The qualitative part was carried out as a case study. The study group of the research consists of 20 gifted primary school students, each of whom has been diagnosed in the field of general talent and benefiting from the Science and Art Center. The stem activities applied in this research were designed according to the project-based learning approach. The stem activities designed according to the project-based learning approach are planned as 9 activities within the 10-week training plan. One stem event is scheduled for each week as a group event, while a single stem event is scheduled for Weeks 8 and 9. In the education plan, the activities in the first 7 weeks were designed as teamwork, discovering problems from daily life, developing sample solutions to problems, showing the models of their solutions with Legos, while the activities in the last 3 weeks were designed for students to create and present their own original products as a group. As data collection tools in the implementation process; Problem Solving Inventory for Primary School Children (α=0.85), Stem Skill Levels Perception Scale (α=0.940), STEM Attitude Scale (α=0.89) and Semi-Structured Interview Form were used. Dependent Sample t-Test analysis, which is one of the percentage, frequency and parametric tests, was used in the analysis of the data, and the content analysis method was used in the analysis of the qualitative data. As a result, it was determined that STEM applications contributed significantly to gifted students' STEM skills, attitudes towards STEM, and problem solving skills. According to the student interviews, it was determined that gifted students had positive thoughts about STEM applications.