INVESTIGATING THE VIEWS OF PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS’ ON STEM EDUCATION

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to determine the views of primary teachers on STEM education. The study group included 20 primary school teachers (13 female, 7 male) who were employed in Elazig. The study was conducted with the Phenomenological method, which is within the scope of qualitative research methods. A semi-structured interview form was used as data collection instruments in the study. All teachers proposed that STEM education should be initiated during the pre-school education.They stated that STEM education would lead to several benefits that would improve the creativity, 21st century skills, motivation of the students and develop positive attitudes towards science and provide meaningful learning. However, it was determined that most teachers had the opinion that they could not implement STEM education. Primary teachers expressed views that they would experience problems in the implementation of STEM education due to lack of interdisciplinary knowledge, lack of in-service training, disciplinary problems during the education process, lack of time, inability to collaborate with the branch teachers and the lack of material. As a result of the education program implemented with to the participating teachers, it was determined that there was a change intheiropinionstowardsscienceandbetterunderstandingengineeringandthe importance of interdisciplinary education.