The impact of an out‐of‐school STEM education program on students’ attitudes toward STEM and STEM careers

Abstract

There is an increasing awareness of out-of-school program value in enhancing student interest and understanding of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This study examined the impact of an out-of-school STEM education program on student attitudes toward STEM disciplines and STEM careers. A STEM education program implemented at a public research university was designed to integrate STEM disciplines with hands-on problem-based activities. Design features included authentic learning contexts, engineering design processes, and content integration. Data sources included an attitude survey and interviews conducted with forty sixth grade middle school student participants. The analysis revealed significant differences between pre and posttests on student attitudes toward personal and social implications of STEM, science and engineering learning, and their relationship to STEM. Findings showed that the program contributed to students' developing interest in STEM fields, and helped them make connections between schoolwork and daily lives. Recommendations for future research on out-of-school STEM education programs were discussed. K E Y W O R D Sattitudes, mixed methods, out-of-school, STEM careers, STEM education 224 | BARAN et Al.

Okul Dışı STEM Atölye Çalışmalarına Katılan Öğrencilerin STEM Eğitimine Yönelik Tutumları

“…The results of the research showed also that the integration of STEM activities into the out-of-school education programs could support the development of students' interest in STEM-related careers. Likewise, Baran, Canbazoglu Bilici, Mesutoglu, and Ocak (2019) and Guzey, Tank, Wang, Roehrig, and Moore (2014) stated that STEM training programs are important in improving student attitudes towards STEM. Duran and Sendag (2012) indicated that technology/inquiry and design-based collaborative learning strategies and technologysupported IT/STEM experiences have a significant effect on the development of critical thinking of urban high school students.…”

STEM education for Industry 4.0 in technical and vocational high schools: Investigation of teacher professional development

“…STEM education has merit in equipping students with engineering habits of mind, helping students produce multiple innovative solutions to 21 st -century problems, think creatively, and systematically (Akgunduz, 2018;Bybee, 2018;Corlu et al, 2014;Johnson et al, 2015, NRC, 2014. STEM education contributes to the development of students' problem-solving skills, abilities to engage in evidence-based explanations (Bybee, 2018), innovation capacities, collaboration, critical thinking (Martín-Páez et al, 2019, NRC, 2012, and interest towards STEM and STEM careers (Akgunduz, 2016;Baran et al, 2019;Martín-Páez et al, 2019;Shahali et al, 2017).…”

Integrating communal content into science lessons: An investigation of the beliefs and attitudes of preservice teachers

“…One example is that students whose science instruction integrated moral and ethical decisions, in line with SSI principles, showed gains in reflective writing (Zeidler et al., 2009). Further, students who engaged in engineering activities that incorporated science and math content within authentic contexts reported greater personal and societal relevance of STEM (Baran et al., 2019).…”