Publication: 60-72 aylık çocukların bilimsel süreç becerilerine STEM-A etkinliklerinin etkisinin incelenmesi
Abstract
Okul öncesi dönem çocuklarda gelişimin oldukça hızlı olduğu bir dönemdir. Çocuklar bu dönemde; çevrelerini tanımak, gözlemlemek ve bilmedikleri durumlar üzerine yoğunlaşmak isterler. Özellikle bu yıllarda çocukların öğrenme sürecine aktif katılması, 21. Yüzyıl becerileri olarak adlandırılan yaratıcılık, eleştirel düşünme ve problem çözme gibi becerileri edinmiş olmaları oldukça önemlidir. Çocukların bu eğitim programlarına dahil olurken gözlem yapma, tahmin etme ve sonuç çıkarma gibi bilimsel süreç becerileri olarak adlandırılan yeterliliklere de sahip olmaları fayda sağlayacaktır. Bu becerilerin geliştirilmesinde öğrenme ortamının ve uygulanan etkinliklerin ise rolü büyüktür. Yapılan araştırmalar çocukların katılmış oldukları eğitim programlarıyla öğrenme düzeyleri arasında pozitif bir ilişki olduğunu göstermektedir. Aynı zamanda etkinlikler içerisine dahil edilen fene ve teknolojiye dayalı etkinliklerin çocukların bilime karşı olumlu tutum geliştirdiği, merak duygusunu güçlendirdiği de söylenebilmektedir. Okul öncesi dönem çocukları araştırmaya, keşfetmeye ve öğrenmeye isteklidirler. Bu sebeple çevre ile olan bağlantıları onları bilime yönlendirebilmektedir. Çevre, çocukların öğrenme süreçlerinde oldukça önemli faktörlerden biridir. Eğitim ortamları, kullanılan materyaller ve etkinlikler, çocuklara somut deneyimler sunarak aktif bir öğrenme sürecine dahil olmalarına fırsat vermektedir. Günümüzün gelişen eğitim yaklaşımları içerisinde bulunan STEM-A ile çocukların 5 disiplin alanında entegre bir şekilde kazanımlar elde etmeleri ve bu kazanımları sanat ile bütünleştirmelerine fırsat verilmektedir.Bu araştırmada, 60-72 aylık çocukların bilimsel süreç becerilerine STEM-A etkinliklerinin etkisinin incelenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Araştırmacı tarafından geliştirilen STEM-A Etkinlik Paketi bilimsel süreç becerilerinden temel, nedensel ve deneysel becerileri ele alan bütünleştirilmiş, disiplinler arası 20 adet etkinlikten oluşmaktadır. Etkinlik paketi, 10 hafta boyunca deney grubunu oluşturan çocuklara uygulanacak şekilde planlanmıştır. Araştırma gerçek deneme modellerinden “Ön test-Son test Kontrol Gruplu Yarı Deneysel Model” kullanılarak tasarlanmıştır. İstanbul Kartal’da bulunan özel bir okul öncesi eğitim kurumuna devam eden 5’i deney(1 kız 4 erkek), 5’ikontrol grubu(2 kız 3 erkek) olmak üzere toplam 10 çocuk araştırmanın çalışma grubunu oluşturmaktadır. Hem deney hem de kontrol grubunda yer alan çocuklar benzeşik özellikler göstermektedir. Araştırmada veri toplama aracı olarak Şahin, Yıldırım, Sürmeli ve Güven tarafından 2018 yılında geliştirilen “Bilimsel Süreç Becerileri Testi” kullanılmıştır. Veriler STEM-A Etkinlik Paketi uygulanmadan önce ve sonra araştırmacı tarafından 60-72 aylık çocuklara birebir uygulanan Bilimsel Süreç Becerileri Testi ile toplanmıştır. Deney ve kontrol gruplarının BSBT ön test ve son test puanlarından elde edilen dağılımın normalliğini test etmek amacıyla Shapiro Wilk’s analizi yapılmıştır. Elde edilen sonuçlar normallik varsayımlarını karşılamadığı için parametrik olmayan karşılaştırma teknikleri tercih edilmiştir. Deney ve kontrol grupların ön test sonuçları arasında fark olup olmadığını belirlemek üzere Mann Whitney-U testi yapılmıştır. Deney grubunun ön test ve son test puanlarını karşılaştırmak için Wilcoxon İşaretli Sıralar Testi kullanılmıştır. Deney ve kontrol grubunun son test puanları arasında fark olup olmadığına Mann Whitney-U testi ile bakılmıştır. Çalışmaya katılan çocukların Bilimsel Süreç Becerileri Testi‟nden aldıkları ön test puanlarının anlamlı bir şekilde farklılaşıp farklılaşmadığını belirlemek üzere yapılan Mann Whitney-U testi sonucunda gruplar arasında anlamlı bir farklılık olduğu saptanmıştır(z=-2.27; p<,05). Kontrol grubunun Bilimsel Süreç Becerileri Testi‟nden aldıkları ön test ve son test puanlarının karşılaştırılmasına ilişkin Wilcoxon İşaretli Sıralar testi sonucunda puanların anlamlı bir şekilde farklılaşmadığı bulunmuştur(z=-2.03; p>,05). Deney grubunun Bilimsel Süreç Becerileri Testinden aldıkları ön test ve son test puanları arasında anlamlı bir farklılık bulunup bulunmadığını belirlemek üzere yapılan Wilcoxon İşaretli Sıralar Testi sonucunda anlamlı bir farklılık olduğu tespit edilmiştir (z=-2.03; p<,05). Deney ve kontrol grubundaki çocukların son test puanlarının anlamlı bir şekilde farklılaşıp farklılaşmadığını belirlemek üzere yapılan Mann Whitney-U testi sonucunda gruplar arasında anlamlı bir farklılık olduğu görülmüştür (z=-2.65; p<,05). Ortalamalar incelendiğinde deney grubunun bilimsel süreç becerileri puanları, kontrol grubunun bilimsel süreç becerileri puanlarından daha yüksek olduğu görülmektedir. Araştırma sonuçlarına bakıldığında çocuklara uygulanan STEM-A Etkinlik Paketinin 60-72 Aylık çocukların bilimsel süreç becerileri üzerine olumlu etkisi olduğu söylenebilmektedir.
Preschool period is a period of rapid development in children. During this period, children want to know their environment, observe and focus on situations they do not know. Particularly in these years, it is very important for children to actively participate in the learning process and to acquire skills such as creativity, critical thinking and problem solving, which are called 21st century skills. It will be beneficial for children to have the so-called scientific process skills such as observing, estimating and drawing conclusions while participating in these education programs. The role of the learning environment and the applied activities in the development of these skills is great. Studies show that there is a positive relationship between the education programs that children attend and their learning levels. At the same time, it can be said that science and technology-based activities included in the activities develop positive attitudes towards science and strengthen the sense of curiosity of children.Preschoolers are eager to explore, discover and learn. For this reason, their connections with the environment can lead them to science. Environment is one of the most important factors in children's learning processes. Educational environments, materials and activities provide children with concrete experiences and an opportunity to be involved in an active learning process. With STEM-A, one of today's developing educational approaches, children are given the opportunity to gain acquisition in 5 disciplines in an integrated way and to integrate these acquisition with art.In this study, it was aimed to examine the effect of STEM-A activities on the science process skills of 60-72 months old children. The STEM-A Activity Package that was developed by the researcher consists of 20 integrated, interdisciplinary activities that address basic, causal and experimental skills from scientific process skills. The activity package was planned to be applied to the children in the experimental group for 10 weeks. The research was designed by using the Pretest-Posttest Experimental Model with Control Group, one of the real experimental models. The study group of the research consists of 10 children, 5 of which are in the experimental group (1 girl, 4 boys), and 5 of them are in the control group (2 girls, 3 boys) who attend a private preschool education institution in Kartal, Istanbul. Children in both the experimental and control groups show similar characteristics.The Scientific Process Skills Test, who was developed by Şahin, Yıldırım, Sürmeli and Güven in 2018, was used as a data collection tool in the research. The data were collected with the Scientific Process Skills Test administered to 60-72 month old children by the researcher before and after the STEM-A Activity Package was applied. Shapiro Wilk's analysis was performed to test the normality of the distribution obtained from the BSST pre-test and post-test scores of the experimental and control groups. Non-parametric comparison techniques were preferred because the obtained results did not meet the normality assumptions. Mann Whitney-U test was used to determine whether there was a difference between the pre-test results of the experimental and control groups. Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test was used to compare the pretest and posttest total scores of the experimental group. The Mann Whitney-U test was used to determine whether there was a difference between the posttest scores of the experimental and control groups. As a result of the Mann Whitney-U test, which was conducted to determine whether the pre-test scores of the children participating in the study differed significantly according to the variable of the experimental and control groups, it was determined that there was a significant difference between the groups (z=-2.27; p<.05). ). It was found that the scores of the control group did not differ significantly as a result of the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test, which is related to the comparison of the pretest and posttest scores obtained from the Science Process Skills Test (z=-2.03; p>.05). As a result of Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test, which was conducted to determine whether there was a significant difference between the pretest and posttest scores of the experimental group from the Scientific Process Skills Test, it was determined that there was a significant difference (z=-2.03; p<.05). As a result of the Mann Whitney-U test, which was conducted to determine whether the post-test scores of the children differed significantly according to the variable of the experimental and control groups, it was observed that there was a significant difference between the groups (z=-2.65; p<.05). When the mean rank is examined, it is seen that the scientific process skills scores of the experimental group are higher than the scientific process skills scores of the control group. Considering the results of the research, it can be said that the STEM-A Activity Package applied to children has a positive effect on the scientific process skills of 60-72 months old children.
Preschool period is a period of rapid development in children. During this period, children want to know their environment, observe and focus on situations they do not know. Particularly in these years, it is very important for children to actively participate in the learning process and to acquire skills such as creativity, critical thinking and problem solving, which are called 21st century skills. It will be beneficial for children to have the so-called scientific process skills such as observing, estimating and drawing conclusions while participating in these education programs. The role of the learning environment and the applied activities in the development of these skills is great. Studies show that there is a positive relationship between the education programs that children attend and their learning levels. At the same time, it can be said that science and technology-based activities included in the activities develop positive attitudes towards science and strengthen the sense of curiosity of children.Preschoolers are eager to explore, discover and learn. For this reason, their connections with the environment can lead them to science. Environment is one of the most important factors in children's learning processes. Educational environments, materials and activities provide children with concrete experiences and an opportunity to be involved in an active learning process. With STEM-A, one of today's developing educational approaches, children are given the opportunity to gain acquisition in 5 disciplines in an integrated way and to integrate these acquisition with art.In this study, it was aimed to examine the effect of STEM-A activities on the science process skills of 60-72 months old children. The STEM-A Activity Package that was developed by the researcher consists of 20 integrated, interdisciplinary activities that address basic, causal and experimental skills from scientific process skills. The activity package was planned to be applied to the children in the experimental group for 10 weeks. The research was designed by using the Pretest-Posttest Experimental Model with Control Group, one of the real experimental models. The study group of the research consists of 10 children, 5 of which are in the experimental group (1 girl, 4 boys), and 5 of them are in the control group (2 girls, 3 boys) who attend a private preschool education institution in Kartal, Istanbul. Children in both the experimental and control groups show similar characteristics.The Scientific Process Skills Test, who was developed by Şahin, Yıldırım, Sürmeli and Güven in 2018, was used as a data collection tool in the research. The data were collected with the Scientific Process Skills Test administered to 60-72 month old children by the researcher before and after the STEM-A Activity Package was applied. Shapiro Wilk's analysis was performed to test the normality of the distribution obtained from the BSST pre-test and post-test scores of the experimental and control groups. Non-parametric comparison techniques were preferred because the obtained results did not meet the normality assumptions. Mann Whitney-U test was used to determine whether there was a difference between the pre-test results of the experimental and control groups. Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test was used to compare the pretest and posttest total scores of the experimental group. The Mann Whitney-U test was used to determine whether there was a difference between the posttest scores of the experimental and control groups. As a result of the Mann Whitney-U test, which was conducted to determine whether the pre-test scores of the children participating in the study differed significantly according to the variable of the experimental and control groups, it was determined that there was a significant difference between the groups (z=-2.27; p<.05). ). It was found that the scores of the control group did not differ significantly as a result of the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test, which is related to the comparison of the pretest and posttest scores obtained from the Science Process Skills Test (z=-2.03; p>.05). As a result of Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test, which was conducted to determine whether there was a significant difference between the pretest and posttest scores of the experimental group from the Scientific Process Skills Test, it was determined that there was a significant difference (z=-2.03; p<.05). As a result of the Mann Whitney-U test, which was conducted to determine whether the post-test scores of the children differed significantly according to the variable of the experimental and control groups, it was observed that there was a significant difference between the groups (z=-2.65; p<.05). When the mean rank is examined, it is seen that the scientific process skills scores of the experimental group are higher than the scientific process skills scores of the control group. Considering the results of the research, it can be said that the STEM-A Activity Package applied to children has a positive effect on the scientific process skills of 60-72 months old children.