Pre-Service Teachers’ Awareness and Attitude Toward STEM Education as a Panacea for National Development

Abstract

The attitude and behaviour of individuals toward national development today would determine how prepared we are for the future and how the environment will respond to us in the future. Hence this study sought to examine pre-service science education teachers’ awareness of STEM education and attitude towards it. The research adopted the descriptive survey of the correlation type, and 400 pre-service teachers were randomly selected for the study. The questionnaire was distributed to 400 pre-service teachers in three colleges of education in Oyo State, Nigeria with 310 duly filled and returned. Mean, Multiple Regression and t-tests were used for data analysis. Findings revealed that pre-service teachers in the colleges of education have a high level of awareness level of STEM education, they also found that the pre-service teachers had favourable attitudes toward STEM education for national development. The study, therefore, recommended among others that the schools where teachers are trained for the future should restructure their curriculum to incorporate STEM education that informs the trainee teachers of the significant roles, they can play in achieving national development through STEM and most importantly promote its knowledge in their classroom. Keywords: Pre-service Science Teachers, STEM Education, Attitude, National Developments DOI: 10.7176/JEP/14-29-05 Publication date: October 31 st 2023