A systematic review of afterschool STEM literature in education

Abstract

In this study, the literature on Afterschool STEM education was reviewed from the Proquest database. Within the scope of the research, 25 theses and dissertations that met the criteria were examined. The year, type, a method used, data collection tools, study group and number, and keywords of the theses were systematically analyzed. The systematic review method, one of the qualitative research methods, was used to examine the graduate theses on Afterschool STEM. As a result of the findings obtained by examining the theses related to Afterschool STEM; it was found that the first thesis study was a doctoral dissertation in 2003, there was a great increase in the number of theses published in 2015, and no thesis was published between 2004-2013, and most of the published theses were in the doctoral thesis type. In addition, in the distribution of theses according to the fields selected in the Proquest database, it was determined that most theses were published in the field of Science Education, qualitative and mixed research methods were used equally and mostly as research methods, and survey, interviews, and observation were mostly used as data collection tools. In the analyzed theses, data were collected mostly from Middle school students. When the number of participants in the theses was examined, the participants between 31-100 were mostly preferred in the studies. According to the keywords used in the theses, the words "education", "out of school time", "afterschool", "STEM" and "STEM education" were preferred.