Examination of Postgraduate Theses on STEM Education in Preschool Education in Turkey
Keywords:
STEM, Preschool education, Postgraduate thesisAbstract
This study aimed to examine the postgraduate theses on STEM education in preschool education and to determine the tendencies towards STEM education in preschool education in Turkey. For this purpose, postgraduate theses were reached as a result of the research conducted in the Electronic Thesis Archive of the Council of Higher Education. The study determined that 40 postgraduate thesis studies published between 2018-2022 were examined according to the distribution by years, type, distribution by universities, research models, methods, the profile of the sample group, number of samples, sample selection, data collection tools and subjects. The study used the thematic content analysis method. The research used the "Stem Education Postgraduate Thesis Review Form in Preschool Education" developed by the researchers as a data collection tool. The researchers individually coded the data obtained in the study in the form of general and content characteristics and observed that similar data were obtained in other studies. As a result, the researchers determined that the highest number of theses on STEM education in preschool education was conducted in 2019. The highest number of studies were carried out as master's theses. While most studies were conducted in quantitative models, the studies were generally conducted in quasi-experimental methods. Additionally, the studies used the purposeful (criterion) sampling method to determine the study group. While more studies were conducted with children as the sample group, there were also studies carried out for teachers and prospective teachers. Also, the studies frequently used scales, interview forms and Likert-type questionnaires to collect data. Moreover, the studies mostly focused on the effect of STEM education on scientific process skills, but there were also studies on opinion, perception, tendency and self-efficacy in STEM education.
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