The Opinions of Mathematics Teacher Candidates Who Have Received a STEM Training on STEM and the Activities they Designed in the Class

Abstract

This study has been conducted to investigate the opinions of mathematics teacher candidates on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) training and the activities designed by them. It has been carried out using the case study method, which is one of the qualitative research patterns. In this study, semi-structured interview forms and activity cards have been used to gather data. While semi-structured interview forms served to elicit teacher candidates’ opinions on STEM, activity cards were employed to ask them to design an activity in which they could put their training on STEM into practice. The study has been conducted with 34 senior mathematics education students and the data obtained have been analyzed using the content analysis method. It has been concluded that mathematics teacher candidates have positive views on STEM training. The activities designed by the candidate teachers can be categorized under four categories, which are interdisciplinary, the engineering field it is related to, the preferred method and the activities that are not suitable for STEM. Teacher candidates should be trained on how to integrate STEM education into their lessons. Stem activity examples should be presented to teacher candidates for applicability. Keywords: Mathematics teacher candidate, stem, activity, training, opinion