The Effect of STEM Education on Pre-Service Science Teachers' Problem Solving Skills

The purpose of this research; to examine the effect of STEM education on pre service svience teachers’ problem solving skills. For this purpose, lessons and interviews with STEM applications were held with 30 preservice teachers studying in Erzincan Binali Yıldırım University, Faculty of Education, Department of Science Education. In the study using mixed method; In order to measure problem solving skills with quantitative data, the problem solving scale was applied as a single group pretest-posttest. In order to obtain qualitative data, focus group interview technique was applied. During the focus group interview, open-ended questions were used by the researcher, which could contribute to the detailed research of quantitative data. The questions were prepared in parallel with the sub-dimensions of the scale used for this purpose, and the expert opinion was obtained and finalized. In the study, it was determined that STEM education has a positive contribution to the development of pre-service teachers' problem solving skills. In the development of pre-service teachers' problem solving skills; It was determined that they thought it was because they had to solve the problems they encountered during STEM education. It has been determined that they think that STEM Education has an effect on some of the individual characteristics that form the basis of problem solving skills. These; They stated that they are willing, patient and courageous against problem solving, taking responsibility, making decisions, expressing their ideas freely even to people with opposite thoughts and defending when necessary. It is also stated that STEM contributes to a wide variety of new developments in individuals with its versatile structure. They think that they will contribute to both their own development and the students they will teach. They emphasized that STEM is an effective method for generating solutions to real-life problems and discovering and developing multi-faceted solutions, as it provides individuals with interdisciplinary thinking skills, provides experiences in working in cooperation, and provides a basis for finding solutions to life-related problem.