STEAM PRACTICES IN CHEMISTRY EDUCATION

Abstract

STEM is the process of integrating science, technology, engineering and mathematics in education. STEAM differs from STEM by a letter of ‘A’ which means arts, on the basic logic of science and arts mustn’t be decomposed from each other. This research aimed to assist tenth-grade students in learning through their own constructed materials for bringing up them as well-qualified individuals by using chemistry, technology, engineering, popart and mathematics (STEAM) integration which would improve their creativity and critical-thinking too. 33 tenth-grade students from a high school in Turkey participated in this qualitative research in 2015-2016 academic year. Student constructed materials, and student process evaluation worksheets were used as data collecting tools. Content analysis was utilized for the gathered data. Content analysis was cross-checked for the reliability of the research too. The results showed that students’ creativity and critical-thinking skills were enhanced through such a STEAM process, and this process was also helped to educate well-qualified individuals in the abovementioned fields. Keywords: chemistry education, critical thinking, educating well-qualified individuals, STEAM.