An Investigation into the Development of the Force and Energy Unit through STEM Integration in Science Course and its Effects on Students' Critical Thinking Skills

In this study, to examine the change in individuals' critical thinking skills, a new unit was developed in which STEM was integrated. The outcomes of this 7th-grade unit were selected from related disciplines. During the learning process of the developed Force and Energy unit, it was aimed that individuals could make judgments by gaining critical thinking skills and evaluate events in a multi-dimensional way. In this study, which lasted for five weeks, the developed unit was used to conduct lessons with the experimental group (N=25) while the control group (N=25) was traditionally taught. The Critical Thinking Scales developed by Demir (2006a) were used in the research process. Before the implementation, no significant difference was found between the experimental and control groups regarding critical thinking skills, but after the implementation, a significant difference was observed in favour of the experimental group. When the scores obtained from the sub-scales (interpretation and explanation) were compared, a significant difference was found in favour of the experimental group. When the changes in the experimental and control groups were examined, there was no significant change in the control group students, but a significant change was found in favour of the experimental group. These changes occurred in the evaluation, Interpretation, and explanation sub-scales of the critical thinking scale. Based on these data, it can be said that the critical thinking skills of individuals who receive STEM education improve. Accordingly, making use of different disciplines simultaneously while designing a product in STEM education is an important factor in the development of individuals' critical thinking skills. Thus, teachers should carry out this process effectively.