Comparison of Pre-service Teachers' Metaphors Regarding the Concept of “Scientific Knowledge”

Abstract

The aim of this research was to analyze pre-service teachers' perceptions of the concept 'scientific knowledge' through metaphors. Phenomenology, one of qualitative research designs, was used in the study. A total of 189 pre-service teachers, including 158 females and 31 males, studying at different departments in the education faculty of Kocaeli University, Turkey in spring semester of 2013-2014 academic year, participated in the study. Data of the study was obtained by asking pre-service teachers to complete the sentence "Scientific Knowledge is like ...... because ....." and analyzed by content analysis method. Chi-square test, a non-parametric test, was employed to examine the relationship between the department and pre-service teachers' perceptions of the concept of scientific knowledge. According to the study findings, pre-service teachers produced a total of 129 valid metaphors regarding the concept of scientific knowledge. These metaphors were divided into 13 different conceptual categories after they were examined in terms of their common features. A statistically significant relationship was identified between the department of study and pre-service teachers' perceptions of the concept of scientific knowledge.

Chinese Students’ Metaphorical Descriptions of Thai Teachers at a Thai University

“…Previous studies of metaphor analysis emphasized various perspectives of metaphors, including teacher metaphors (Carter & Pitcher, 2010;Yesilbursa, 2012;Kamberi, 2014;Şimşek, 2014;Akinoglu & Eren, 2016;Ural et al, 2016;Yilmaz, 2018), learners' metaphors of teachers (Nainby & Fassett, 2008;Nikitina & Furuoka, 2008;Kesen, 2010;Kitikanan, 2010;Ishiki, 2011;Mouraz et al, 2013;Kamberi, 2014;Bas & Bal-Gezegin, 2015;Su, 2015;Effendi, 2016;Ural et al, 2016;Zhang, 2016;Jitpranee, 2017;Yilmaz, 2018), and others (e.g. Zhang & Song, 2010;Lowery, 2013).…”

“…Regarding teacher metaphors, earlier studies have focused on English teachers in terms of pedagogical perspectives (Carter & Pitcher, 2010), professional role identities (Yesilbursa, 2012), language teaching and learning (Kamberi, 2014;Şimşek, 2014;Ural et al, 2016), scientific knowledge (Akinoglu & Eren, 2016), and teachers themselves (Yilmaz, 2018). For learners' metaphors of teachers, available literature has emphasized matters of students' perceptions toward English teachers (Bas & Bal-Gezegin, 2015;Zhang, 2016;Jitpranee, 2017), English learning (Ishiki, 2011;Su, 2015), English language course books (Kesen, 2010), English courses (Kitikanan, 2010), non-English language teachers (Nikitina & Furuoka, 2008), and teaching and learning processes (Mouraz et al, 2013;Kamberi, 2014;Ural et al, 2016).…”

High school students’ metaphorical perceptions of biology and biology teacher concepts

“…Metaphors were accepted as a method in scientific studies following the 1980s and became the subject matter of many studies. The relevant literature shows that there are studies (Zeren, 2015) analysing the metaphorical perceptions of secondary school students, university students, pre-service and in-service teachers concerning such concepts and phenomena as teachers (Akinoglu & Eren, 2016;Ben-Peretz, Mendelson & Kron, 2003;Boulton, Grauer & Irwin, 2016;Boyd & Bloxham, 2014;Cerit, 2008;Farrell, 2006;Goldstein, 2005;Gur, 2012;Leavy, McSorleya & Bote, 2007;Polat, Apak & Akdag, 2013;Saban, Kocbeker & Saban, 2006;Tait-McCutcheon & Drake, 2016), students (Brookes & Etkina, 2007;Guner, 2012;Koc, 2013;Saban, 2009;Wang & Xu, 2006), schools (Aydogdu, 2008;Balci, 2011;Demir, 2007;Hoffman & Kretovics, 2004;Ozdemir, 2012;Swaffield, 2014), course books (McGrath, 2006), classroom management (Akar & Yildirim, 2009;Orucu, 2012;Uysal, Firdevs, Tepetas & Akman, 2014), teaching (Alger, 2009;Niebert & Gropengiesser, 2015;Shaw, Massengill & Mahlios, 2008;Wegner & Nuckles, 2015) and learning (Eren & Tekinarslan, 2013;Stylianou, Kulinna, Cothran & Kwon, 2013;Zheng, 2008). Metaphor studies in the field of biology and biology education are also addressed in our research.…”