The Effect of the Montessori Approach-based STEM Activities on the Pre-school Pre-service Teachers' Lifelong Learning

The research was conducted to explore whether the Montessori approach-based STEM activities affect the pre-school pre-service teachers' lifelong learning tendencies or not. A mixed method was employed in the research. The research participants consisted of 53 pre-service teachers at the Pre-school in the Education Program of the Faculty of Education located in a medium-scale province of the Eastern Anatolia Region. In the study, the single group pre-test post-test design of the prospective teachers in the school in Lifelong learning. The Lifelong Learning Trend Scale and Semi-structured Interview Form were applied in obtaining the quantitative data in the research. The qualitative data collected to support the quantitative data were collected through an open-ended semi-structured interview form. The Montessori approach-based STEM education was provided to the participants for 14 weeks as 2 hours per week in total during the research process. It was observed at the end of the research that there was a significant difference between the lifelong learning tendencies pre-test and post-test scores in favor of the post-test, and the qualitative data results supported the quantitative results.