Abstract:

STEM education deals with education with an interdisciplinary relationship and a holistic approach (Smith & Karr-Kidwell, 2000). While it is based on science and mathematics disciplines, it also includes the fields of technology and mathematics (Bybee, 2010). STEM education emerged in the 1990s (Bybee, 2010). STEM is a system that aims to provide students with the ability to think regularly, communicate, adopt ethical values, research, produce, creativity and solve problems in the most appropriate ways by coordinating the knowledge and skills of science, mathematics, technology and engineering with disciplines. Activities that will increase the interest and desire of students with 21st century skills towards science, mathematics, technology and engineering departments are included in the content of STEM education (Baran, Canbazoğlu Bilici, Mesutoğlu, 2015). School administrators have a great role in the development of 21st century skills. The permission to use the STEM Awareness Scale and the necessary permissions were obtained from the Ministry of Education, Education and Training Department. The aim of this research is to examine the awareness of school administrators and teachers working in the Primary Education and Vocational Technical Education Department in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus about STEM education. In addition, it is to examine whether the awareness of school administrators about STEM education differs according to the variables of gender, age, educational status, graduated degree program, occupational seniority, and the task performed. For this purpose, the STEM Awareness Scale was applied to a total of 126 teachers, including 43 school principal and assistants, 83 teachers, working in the schools affiliated to the vocational education department and the primary education department in the TRNC, Ministry of National Education and Culture.  Due to the covid-19 epidemic, which was the sample of the research, simple random sampling method was used in random sampling methods via Google Forms. The data obtained from the scale will be analyzed with the SPSS 25 package program. T-test and one-way ANOVA test will be applied for statistical analysis in the findings of the research. The results were discussed in line with the literature. Along with the results, the STEM awareness levels of school administrators and teachers were determined and suggestions for further research were presented.

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