Abstract:

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Education is considered a necessity in the current society. The interest towards STEM domains has to be cultivated ever since the youngest school age. In Romania future primary and preschool teachers are not trained in the Engineering and Technology domains. Thus they frequently integrate in teaching a given topic activities related with the Science, Mathematics, Arts, and Reading domains.

This research investigates the opinion of 216 Primary and Preschool Pedagogy specialization students about the specifics of STEM/STEAM/STREAM activities in preschool and primary school. The research tool was a questionnaire with 6 demographical questions and 11 five-level Likert items related with the topic of the research.

The results show that two third of the respondents think that Reading and Arts have to be integrated in STEM activities. Only 39% respective 29% of the respondents consider, that the integrated STEM/STEAM/STREAM activities are difficult to organize at preschool respectively primary school level. It is interesting, that the perceived difficulty level in case of those student, who already teaching is significantly higher, then in case of the students without teaching practice. Only one third of the students responded that it is easy to them to plan an integrated STEM/STEAM/STREAM activity. The declared difficulty level in case of those student, who already teaching is significantly lower, then in case of the students without teaching practice. Half of the respondents underline the importance of a mentor who is specialized in STREAM, and this necessity is seen significantly higher by the respondents who have already gain teaching experience. Only 21% of the respondents consider that STEM/STEAM/STREAM activities have to be organized outside of school.

Keywords:

STEM Education, STEAM Education, STREAM Education, primary and preschool specialization students.