Intellectual structure of stem education in educational research

Abstract

The aim of this research is to put forward the intellectual structure of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education concept in educational research. STEM education has emerged as a highly accepted paradigm in education especially in the USA and European countries in recent years. The theoretical substructure of STEM education that is seen as an important factor in attaining the expected qualities in human profile for the changing conditions of the 21st century has started to be formed. STEM education prioritizes team study and interdisciplinary approach. It is of great importance to put forward the intellectual structure of STEM education, that will play an important role in training people for the conditions of the present day, for better comprehension by the researchers, curriculum developers and practitioners. Moreover, when the literature on this concept is investigated, lack of comprehension of the concept and vision is seen. For this reason, the investigation of the development and current status of STEM education will contribute to literature in terms of understanding the intellectual structure of the concept. The dataset of the study is composed of all types of studies in at least one of the categories of Education & Educational Research and “Education, Scientific Disciplines” published in Web of Science (WoS). Basing on WoS categories the relationship of the concept with other disciplines have been examined and visualized with web graphics on the accessed publications. It has been possible to refer to which focus the scientific data has been developed nourishing via the journals by mapping the journals in the dataset as citation giving and citation attaining. In addition to these, contribution of disciplines and countries to STEM education has been compared. © The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology.