Secondary School Students’ Basic STEM Skill Levels according to their Self-Perceptions: A Scale Adaptation

Abstract

In addition to the studies on what the 21st century skills are, how these skills will be gained by the students, that is, after completing the K-12 and university education, the problem of how the students will graduate with these skills has become one of the most important questions waiting for an answer all over the world and it has been an issue for the world of education. STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education approach has the potential to respond to these questions to some extent. The purpose of this study is to adapt ‘the basic STEM skills level self-perception’ scale which was formerly designed to measure the STEM skills levels of the university students within their self- perception, to the secondary school level and define secondary school students’ basic STEM skills levels within their self-perception. This study was conducted in a descriptive survey model. The participants were 501 middle school students. Data of this study were collected using the “Basic STEM Skill Levels Perception Scale”. Exploratory factor analysis was run to figure out the construct validity of the instrument. Item discrimination was tested by observing the differentiation between groups of 27% and top 27%. As a result: ‘Basic STEM Skill Levels Scale’ was adapted to the level of secondary school. The scale is a 7-point Likert-type scale containing of 23 items that can be categorized three factors. Within their self-perceptions, students’ basic STEM skills in science and mathematics are at intermediate level. However, it is seen that the basic STEM skills related to the field of engineering and technology are relatively low. There is a similarity between students’ genders in science and engineering - technology factors.