STEM Teaching Intentions of Turkish Early Childhood Teachers

The contemporary world has given rise to make critical alterations in educational systems of numerous countries and necessitated educational reforms due to inevitable competition in the innovation era. Concordantly, raising... [ view full abstract ]

The contemporary world has given rise to make critical alterations in educational systems of numerous countries and necessitated educational reforms due to inevitable competition in the innovation era. Concordantly, raising generations with innovative mentalities has become a critical need for the future’s wealth countries such as U.S., and STEM education which refers to the integration of science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines has seen as an educational approach to prepare children for the near future’s global economy. To reach those aims, early childhood years which form a basis for STEM education are of importance. This is why STEM education grounded in children’s innate curiosity to learn is considered as an integrated approach to encourage children’s creativity, critical thinking, cooperation, and scientific inquiry. At this point, how teachers use STEM teaching techniques was substantial for an effective STEM practice. Individuals’ actions are determined by their intentions to perform those behaviors along with subjective norms which refer social constraints, attitudes towards behavior which refer evaluation made by an individual regarding an event, and perceived behavioral control which refers the extent of ease or difficulty of doing an action. Hence, one can infer that STEM teaching practices of early childhood teachers can be more prominent through an in-depth look at those three factors influencing a certain behavior. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the primary determinants underlying STEM teaching behavioral intentions of in-service early childhood teachers working in Ankara, Turkey. Data of the study will be obtained through a demographic information protocol and a semi-structured interview. Based on the findings, this study is expected to provide an insight regarding factors lying behind STEM teaching intentions of early childhood teachers in the scope of the sample studied with.

Keywords: STEM education, early childhood education, in-service teachers, teacher intention