The Effect of STEM Education on the Hypothetical-Creative Reasoning Skills of the Pre-school Pre-service Teachers

Abstract

The study aims to explore the effect of STEM education on the hypothetical-creative reasoning skills of the pre-school pre-service teachers. The pre-school pre-service teachers were educated with STEM education for 14 weeks within the scope of the study. A mixed-method was employed in the study. The quantitative data were collected with the "Hypothetical-creative Reasoning Skills Inventory” in the study. The hypothetical-creative reasoning Inventory was applied to the pre-school pre-service teachers as a pre-test before the STEM education and a post-test after the STEM education. The qualitative data were obtained with a semi-structured interview form applied to the pre-school pre-service teachers. At the end of the study, it was found that STEM education developed the pre-school pre-service teachers' hypothetical-creative reasoning skills. The qualitative data also supported this result. The pre-school pre-service teachers claimed that they used the steps of determining the situation, collecting necessary data, suggesting solutions, doing research, analysing data, evaluating, that is, scientific problem solving during STEM education.