Secondary School Students’ Perceptions About Scientist:Metaphorical Analysis

Abstract

The current study aimed to examine secondary school student’s perceptions about scientists using metaphors. A total of 220 students from 6^th and 8^th grades of a secondary school in one of the central districts of Ankara province participated in the study. All students attending the specified classes took part in the study, therefore no sampling was required. The study was conducted in the fall semester of 2012-2013 academic year. Metaphor technique was utilized in the study to identify student perceptions regarding scientists and students were asked to fill in the blanks provided in the following sentence: “A scientist is like a……because………”.  Data obtained from the study were coded by three coders and interrater reliability was found to be 0,94, 0,95 and 0,97. At the end of the study a conceptual framework composed of 3 main categories, 6 sub categories and 23 codes representing student perceptions was obtained. Conceptual framework pointed to the fact that student perceptions regarding scientists had a highly complex structure. The conceptual framework is expected to direct future studies in the field in analyzing and interpreting student perceptions. Based on the findings, it is identified that metaphors can be used as alternative data collection tools in identifying student perceptions of scientists. 

Keywords

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ORTAOKUL ÖĞRENCİLERİNİN BİLİM İNSANI ALGILARI: METAFORİK ANALİZ

Abstract

Bu çalışmanın amacı ortaokul öğrencilerinin bilim insanı algılarını incelemektir. Araştırmaya Ankara’da bir ortaokulda öğrenim gören 220 altı ve sekizinci sınıf öğrencisi katılmıştır. Okulda öğrenim gören tüm altı ve sekizinci sınıfta öğrenim gören öğrenciler araştırma kapsamına alınmıştır. Araştırmada uygulama 2012-2013 öğretim yılında yapılmıştır. Uygulamada öğrencilerin bilim insanına yönelik algılarını belirlemek için metaphor tekniği kullanılmıştır. Bu kapsamda öğrencilerin “Bilim insanı ……. gibidir. Çünkü………..” ifadesindeki boşlukları doldurarak bilim insanı kavramını mecazlayarak açıklamaları istenmiştir. Uygulama sonucu elde edilen veriler üç kodlayıcı tarafından ayrı ayrı kodlanmıştır. Kodlayıcıların verdiği kodların 94%, 95% ve 97% oranında tutarlı olduğu görülmüştür. Araştırma sonucunda öğrencilerin bilim insanına yönelik algılarının 3 temel kategori, 6 alt kategori ve 23 kod altında toplandığı bulunmuştur. Bu çerçevede öğrencilerin bilim insanına yönelik algılarının çok kompleks olduğu ve metaphor tekniğinin bu alanda alternatif bir veri toplama aracı olabileceği sonucuna ulaşılmıştır

Keywords

• Fen Eğitimi, Metaforlar, Bilim İnsanı Algısı

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