Page 131 - e-Kongre Bildiriler Kitabı

of individuals (Stohlmann, Moore, and Roehrig, 2012). Policymakers in the field of education think that
they will be better able to adapt to the development of industry 4.0 with STEM education. Countries

have increased their economic strength globally if they have achieved the desired success in the field of
the STEM. This success leads to an increase of the socio-economic welfare of people and improve their

living conditions (Krinitcyna, Mikhailova and German, 2016).

Environment is defined as “the air, water, and land in or on which people, animals, and plants

live (Cambridge Dictionary, 2020). This definition makes it necessary to integrate the concept of

'environment' into the STEM structure as it directly in relation with all disciplines in STEM. By
integrating the environment into STEM education, the 'Environment' cannot be ignored in school

activities especially science classes and extracurricular activities. Environmental STEM education not
only improve the living conditions of humans but also other living creatures it helps to protect the nature

more.

The importance of environment education might be explained with the examples of production

of masks and development of vaccine needed a lot during the pandemic (as in shown figure 1). The
process of producing a mask (such as face mask and face shield mask) might be a good example for

E+ STEM education. The mask production process contains more than one discipline. Considering of a

mask production;

• Knowing the importance of using the face masks in the battle against COVID-19 and the effects of

them on the environment as waste materials after they are used (environment);

• Deciding on the materials to be used in the production of face masks (science);

• Using 3D technologies or software for mass production of the face masks (technology);

• Determination of the size of the face masks (math);

• More useful design of the face masks (engineering).

Another advanced example is vaccine development. The vaccine development also includes
different disciplines in itself, like producing a face mask:

• Strengthening the immunity of living creature (environment);

• The components of the vaccine content (science);

• Technological equipment used in development and production of the vaccine (technology);

• Design of vaccine bottles for taking into account the conditions of storage and single use of the

vaccine (engineering);

• Proportional formulation of the components used in vaccine development (math);

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