The impact of STEM education on the scientific reasoning skills of pre-service science teachers with different cognitive styles

Background STEM education is regarded as an effective approach for achieving the goals of science education by promoting students’ scientific knowledge and skills. Effective STEM education requires engagement in scientific inquiry and understanding the nature of science. However, criticisms of STEM education often concern its limited emphasis on scientific inquiry and the development of scientific reasoning. Integrating scientific reasoning with engineering design while considering learners’ cognitive styles may contribute to adaptive STEM instruction. Therefore, it is important to examine how STEM education influences the scientific reasoning skills of pre-service science teachers with different cognitive styles.Purpose This study investigated the impact of STEM education on the scientific reasoning skills of pre-service science teachers with different cognitive styles.Sample The participants were 19 pre-service science teachers enrolled at a university in the Eastern Black Sea region of Turkey.Design and Method A one-group pre-test–post-test design was employed. Cognitive styles were identified using the Group Embedded Figures Test, and scientific reasoning skills were measured with the Classroom Test of Scientific Reasoning.Results and Conclusion The findings indicate that STEM education positively contributed to the development of scientific reasoning skills across different cognitive styles. Although this finding is consistent with previous research, the greater improvement observed among participants with a field-dependent cognitive style contrasts with the existing literature. This result may reflect the characteristics of the STEM learning environment and warrants further investigation. Overall, the findings suggest that STEM education can effectively foster scientific reasoning regardless of cognitive style. Rather than supporting a one-size-fits-all perspective, the results indicate that the effectiveness of STEM pedagogy may depend on the alignment between learning environments and learners’ cognitive styles. The study highlights the importance of considering cognitive diversity in STEM teacher education and provides a theoretical basis for developing more adaptive and inclusive STEM pedagogies.