The Effect of STEM activities on seventh-grade students' attitudes towards environmental problems and their learning responsibilities

Abstract

In this study, it is intended to find out the effects of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics [STEM] based environmental education activities on seventh-grade middle school students’ attitudes towards environmental problems and their learning responsibilities. The study was conducted with 12 students attending a public middle school in a rural area in western Türkiye according to a single group pre-test - posttest model. Data were collected with the "Attitude Scale Towards Environmental Problems" developed by Kılıç and Kan (2020) and the "Scale of Responsibility towards Learning" developed by Yakar and Saracaloğlu (2017). In data analysis, comparisons were made with t-tests for related samples. According to the results, a statistically significant difference was obtained in both the students' attitudes towards environmental problems and their learning responsibilities. In the future, it is recommended that similar studies on environmental education be carried out especially in disadvantaged schools to increase students' awareness levels towards environment and support their learning responsibilities.