Reflections of STEAM Education on Children According to Early Childhood and Primary School Teachers

Abstract

In this study, we examined STEAM education's reflections and implicit functions on children according to the views of early childhood and primary school teachers who applied STEAM education. We conducted the study within the scope of phenomenology design, one of the qualitative research designs. The participants were ten teachers who had previously received STEAM education and applied STEAM education in their classroom and were determined by the snowball sampling method. We collected the data with semi-structured interviews and analyzed them with content analysis. We explained our findings with three themes: 1) opportunities for collaborative learning with peers, 2) values, and 3) opportunities for skill development. According to the results, STEAM education encouraged children to make friends, work together, have fun, develop positive commitment, and take responsibility. STEAM education enabled children to cooperate, share, take responsibility, and develop friendships among children. In addition, STEAM education contributed to many skills of children, such as empathy, problem-solving, scientific process, analytical thinking, aggressiveness, self-control, and critical thinking. In this respect, the study provides evidence for the illusions of STEAM education for children.