Determining the Perceptions of Teacher Candidates on the Concepts of Science Course, Science Laboratory, Science Teacher and Science Student via Metaphors

Abstract

The purpose of thisstudy is to determine the perceptions of teacher candidates on the concepts ofscience course, science laboratory, science teacher and science student usingmetaphors. In this study, the phenomenological research method was used. The participantsconsisted of a total of 58 first year students who are studying at thedepartment of Science Education at a state university located in the EasternBlack Sea Region in Turkey. The data of the study was obtained by asking thestudents to complete the sentences “a science course is like …, because …”, “ascience laboratory is like …, because …”, “a science teacher is like …, because…” and “a science student is like …, because…”. In this study which used theresearch design of phenomenology in the scope of a qualitative researchapproach, the obtained data was analyzed using the method of content analysis.The most frequently mentioned metaphors in the study by the teacher candidateswere “life” for the concept of science course, “fun” for the concept of sciencelaboratory, “mother” for the concept of science teacher and “dough” for theconcept of science student. According to the results of the study, it wasobserved that most teacher candidates perceived the concept of science courseas “understanding/discovering life (26.3%) and infinite (21%)”, the concept ofscience laboratory as “a place that provides experience (22.7%) andentertainment (22.6%)”, the concept of science teacher as “mentor (25%)” andthe concept of science student as “a valuable being (20%)”. It was alsoobserved that the perceptions of the teacher candidates on science weregenerally positive.