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 preservice 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.