Perceptions of teachers towards the stem education and the constructivist education approach: Is the constructivist education approach preparatory to the STEM education?

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to identify the perceptions of the teachers towards the stem education and the constructivist education approach. The study group of the research consists of 40 primary school teachers, 30 mathematics teachers, 20 science teachers and 15 information technologies teachers, who serve in the city center of Siirt and Batman. Data collection tool of the research, which is a phenomenography study, is a semi-structured interview form developed by the researchers. In the study, the data obtained from the interview form was subjected to the descriptive and content analysis methods. As a result of the research, it was concluded that the primary school teachers have positive and negative perceptions towards the STEM education whereas the information technologies teachers have negative perceptions. It was also concluded that mathematics and science teachers have a positive perception of STEM education. Based on the result of the study, some suggestions were presented.