Athens Journal of Education - Volume 8 - Issue 4 - The Opinions of Mathematics Teacher Candidates Who Have Received a STEM Training on STEM and the Activities they Designed in the Class

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Aran

Investigates mathematics teacher candidates’ opinions about STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) training and the classroom activities they designed. Conducted as a qualitative case study, the research uses semi-structured interviews and activity cards to collect data and analyze it via content analysis. Participants include 34 senior mathematics education students. Results indicate positive views toward STEM training and classify the designed activities into four groups, including interdisciplinary engineering-related activities, preferred methods, and activities not suitable for STEM.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages16

Reading Time40 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

STEM training and integration concepts

STEM definition and rationale

FeTEMM and creative problem solving

Curriculum alignment and educational aims

Study purpose and method

Case study design and data collection

Content analysis and participant profile

Findings and activity categorization

Overall views toward STEM training

Four categories of designed activities

Athens Journal of Education-Volume 8, Issue 4, November 2021 – Pages 401-416 The Opinions of Mathematics Teacher Candidates Who Have Received a STEM Training on STEM and the Activities they Designed in the Class By BetülKüçükDemir􀀍 This study has been conducted to investigate the opinions of mathematics teacher candidates on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) training and the activities designed by them. It has been carried out using the case study method, which is one of the qualitative research patterns. In this study, semi-structured interview forms and activity cards have been used to gather data. While semi-structured interview forms served to elicit teacher candidates’ opinions on STEM, activity cards were employed to ask them to design an activity in which they could put their training on STEM into practice. The study has been conducted with 34 senior mathematics education students and the data obtained have been analyzed using the content analysis method. It has been concluded that mathematics teacher candidates have positive viewson STEM training. The activities designed by the candidate teachers can be categorized under four categories, which are interdisciplinary, the engineering field it is related to, the preferred method and the activities that are not suitable for STEM. Teacher candidates should be trained on how to integrate STEM education into their lessons. Stem activity examples should be presented to teacher candidates for applicability. Keywords: Mathematics teacher candidate, stem, activity, training, opinion Introduction It is a widely accepted fact that knowledge is a necessity in an age of rapid advancement for everyone wanting to keep up with these advances because we are living in an age when knowledge is considered as power. In today’s economy, which is relatively more global, more technological and more competitive, it is critical to progress in the disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Raines, 2012). The necessity of combined efforts in such fields as science, technology, engineering and mathematics to find solutions to the problems in this ever-globalizing world is a natural result of this situation (Moore et al., 2014). In order to compete in the 21st century, countries need an innovative STEM workforce (Çorlu, Capraro & Capraro, 2014) . STEM is a term which first started to be used in the 1990s by the National Science Foundation (NSF) as an acronym that stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Bybee, 2013). STEM education, whose importance has been increasing in recent years, involves the integration of science, technology, engineering and mathematics with one another. As STEM blurs the line between disciplines by nature, integration is thought to be more in harmony with the nature of STEM (Wang, 2012). STEM is a whole new discipline which is connected to other disciplines (Morrison, 2006). Based on the integration of disciplines, STEM education aims to make a connection between disciplines so 􀀍Assistant Professor, Bayburt University, Turkey. [https://doi.org/10.30958/aje.8-4-4](https://doi.org/10.30958/aje.8-4-4) doi=10.30958/aje.8-4-4 Vol. 8, No. 4 KüçükDemir: The Opinions ofMathematics Teacher… that learning can be connected, focused, meaningful and relevant to learners (Smith & Karr-Kidwell) . It is an integrative approach which is translated into Turkish as FeTEMM (standing for Fen, Teknoloji, Matematik, Mühendislik Eğitimi), and helps students to adopt creative problem solving techniques (Akgündüz et al., 2015; Gülhan & Şahin, 2016). STEM education is an integrative approach aiming to make students, who are going to be the future innovators, embrace creative problem solving techniques (Roberts, 2012). STEM education covers the knowledge, skills and beliefs which are collaboratively formed at the intersection of more than one STEM area (Çorlu, Capraro & Capraro, 2014). While it mainly focuses on the

FAQs

What is the focus of the study?

The study examines mathematics teacher candidates’ opinions about STEM training and the activities they designed for use in class.

How was data collected and analyzed?

The research uses semi-structured interview forms and activity cards, then applies content analysis to the data.

How many participants were included?

The study was conducted with 34 senior mathematics education students.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Aran