Investigation of scientific creativity levels of elementary school students who enrolled in a STEM program

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate the scientific creativity levels of second, third and fourth grade students who enrolled in a STEM course for an entire academic year. The sample consisted of 85 elementary school students in two private schools in Antalya, Turkey. "Scientific Creativity Test" and "Student Demographic Questionnaire" were the instruments used in the study. Findings revealed that the scientific creativity level of the students showed a statistically significant difference with respect to their grade level. No significant differences were observed based for other variables (gender, number of siblings, parental occupation, favorite subject, the most successful subject, future occupation). In this paper, selected student responses will be presented together with a comparison of the existing curricula and the implemented STEM curriculum as well as a discussion of the findings. The study has indicated that the implemented STEM program positively affected scientific creativity of the students.