In the present study, the effects of STEM based robotics applications on students' creativity and scientific attitudes in the Electricity Unit of 7th grade have been investigated by using the nested pattern of the mixed method. Sixty students, 30 of whom are the experimental group and the other 30 constitute the control group, attending a post-school course in Istanbul in the academic year of 2018-2019, participated 2 weeks of pre-applications and 4 weeks of applications. TOSRA,to measure attitude towards science, and “Torrance Creative Thinking Test”,to measure creativity, were applied as pre and posttest. The data gained from the tests were analyzed with SPSS 21. Semi-structured interviews' data were analyzed by using content analysis. As a result, it was observed that STEM based robotics applications significantly increased students' creativity and attitudes towards science. Interview findings show that students enjoy using STEM applications that contain applications instead of theoretical knowledge. Using robotic and complex software materials to solve daily life problems, they felt like scientists during the practices and the applications affected their future career choices.Keywords STEM; creativity; robotic application; attitude; TOSRA
For meaningful learning to take place and to eliminate misconceptions, it is necessary to identify the process of conceptual change on any given topic. The research aims to examine the skills of science teacher candidates to prepare two-stage diagnostic questions on ‘Seasons, Climate and Weather Movements’. For this purpose, the research was carried out in 4 weeks with 40 (39 females, 1 male) second-grade science teacher candidates in the fall semester of the 2019-2020 academic year, using the holistic single-case study pattern of the ‘Observation-Based Case Study'. Tests prepared by pre-service teachers were applied to eighth-grade students. The 'Diagnostic Test Preparation Rubric' was collected using ”Concept maps“, ”Open-ended two-stage tests“ and ”Multiple choice two-stage tests". As a result of the descriptive and content analysis, it was noticed that teacher candidates are usually at an intermediate and good level in determining the propositions of knowledge about the subject, developing a concept map, and a two-stage diagnostic test related to the subject content.
Keywords: Diagnostic questions; science teacher candidates; seasons; climate; weather movements
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