Development of Students' Critical Thinking Skills with STEM Activities in Early Childhood Science Education

This research examines how design-based STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) activities in early childhood affect the development of critical thinking skills in preschool children aged 60-72 months. The research was conducted using an action research design. The participants of t...

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Main Authors: Vesile Uyulan, Serkan Aslan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Anadolu University, Eskisehir 2024-07-01
Series:Anadolu Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi dergisi
Subjects:
Online Access:https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/3845739
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author Vesile Uyulan
Serkan Aslan
author_facet Vesile Uyulan
Serkan Aslan
author_sort Vesile Uyulan
collection DOAJ
description This research examines how design-based STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) activities in early childhood affect the development of critical thinking skills in preschool children aged 60-72 months. The research was conducted using an action research design. The participants of the study were determined according to the purposeful sampling method. The researcher's participants consist of 15 children attending preschool education. In the study, the Critical Thinking Skill Rubric was used as a data collection tool. With this scoring key, the students' weekly work based on STEM activities was evaluated and their developments were monitored. The study was conducted with the implementation of 8 STEM scenarios. The data of the research were scored by two different scorers. Descriptive statistics were used in the analysis of the data. In the first week, it was determined that critical thinking skills were insufficient, but a significant improvement was observed in these skills during the application process. The research results show that the students enjoyed the STEM applications, their interest levels increased, and the problems experienced during the activity process decreased. Various suggestions have been presented based on the research results.
format Article
id doaj-art-3c1198f45dc249cca8172cede66df5ee
institution OA Journals
issn 2602-2249
language English
publishDate 2024-07-01
publisher Anadolu University, Eskisehir
record_format Article
series Anadolu Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi dergisi
spelling doaj-art-3c1198f45dc249cca8172cede66df5ee2025-08-20T01:56:51ZengAnadolu University, EskisehirAnadolu Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi dergisi2602-22492024-07-018397199910.34056/aujef.146460526Development of Students' Critical Thinking Skills with STEM Activities in Early Childhood Science EducationVesile Uyulan0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1330-505XSerkan Aslan1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8515-4233Milli Eğitim BakanlığıSÜLEYMAN DEMİREL ÜNİVERSİTESİ, EĞİTİM FAKÜLTESİThis research examines how design-based STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) activities in early childhood affect the development of critical thinking skills in preschool children aged 60-72 months. The research was conducted using an action research design. The participants of the study were determined according to the purposeful sampling method. The researcher's participants consist of 15 children attending preschool education. In the study, the Critical Thinking Skill Rubric was used as a data collection tool. With this scoring key, the students' weekly work based on STEM activities was evaluated and their developments were monitored. The study was conducted with the implementation of 8 STEM scenarios. The data of the research were scored by two different scorers. Descriptive statistics were used in the analysis of the data. In the first week, it was determined that critical thinking skills were insufficient, but a significant improvement was observed in these skills during the application process. The research results show that the students enjoyed the STEM applications, their interest levels increased, and the problems experienced during the activity process decreased. Various suggestions have been presented based on the research results.https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/3845739tasarım tabanlı stemerken çocukluk eğitimifen eğitimieleştirel düşünmeeylem araştırmasıdesign-based stemearly childhood educationscience educationcritical thinkingaction research
spellingShingle Vesile Uyulan
Serkan Aslan
Development of Students' Critical Thinking Skills with STEM Activities in Early Childhood Science Education
Anadolu Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi dergisi
tasarım tabanlı stem
erken çocukluk eğitimi
fen eğitimi
eleştirel düşünme
eylem araştırması
design-based stem
early childhood education
science education
critical thinking
action research
title Development of Students' Critical Thinking Skills with STEM Activities in Early Childhood Science Education
title_full Development of Students' Critical Thinking Skills with STEM Activities in Early Childhood Science Education
title_fullStr Development of Students' Critical Thinking Skills with STEM Activities in Early Childhood Science Education
title_full_unstemmed Development of Students' Critical Thinking Skills with STEM Activities in Early Childhood Science Education
title_short Development of Students' Critical Thinking Skills with STEM Activities in Early Childhood Science Education
title_sort development of students critical thinking skills with stem activities in early childhood science education
topic tasarım tabanlı stem
erken çocukluk eğitimi
fen eğitimi
eleştirel düşünme
eylem araştırması
design-based stem
early childhood education
science education
critical thinking
action research
url https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/3845739
work_keys_str_mv AT vesileuyulan developmentofstudentscriticalthinkingskillswithstemactivitiesinearlychildhoodscienceeducation
AT serkanaslan developmentofstudentscriticalthinkingskillswithstemactivitiesinearlychildhoodscienceeducation