ABSTRACT. This study was carried out to explore the perceptions that academicians working at faculties of education in Turkey have regarding 'constructivist teacher'. The participants of this phenomenological study included 323 academicians at 71 Faculties of Education in the spring of the 2013-2014 academic year. In the study, purposive sampling method was used among the sampling methods. Academicians completed the sentence "Constructivist teacher is like ... because ..." and the data gathered is analyzed with qualitative method. The results indicated that academicians produced 94 different metaphors regarding the constructivist teacher. These metaphors are categorized into 14 conceptual categories with regard to their common features. The metaphors indicated by all academicians and mostly-indicated ones are the following: Guide, master, maestro, director, architect, artist and democratic leader.
SUMMARYPurpose and significance: The aim of this study is to define how academicians in faculties of education conceptualize "Constructivist Teacher" through metaphorical images. It has been thought that defining instructors' metaphorical images about related courses' effectiveness and efficiency will make a major contribution to solve the problems about constructivist approach and develop it. Methods: In this study, phenomenology, a qualitative research method, was used and the phenomenon of this study was accepted as the concept, Constructivist Teacher. In the study, purposive sampling method was used among the sampling methods. For this reason, a web site link which belongs to a form that had sections including age, gender, specialty, experience, title, educational background and the expression, , "A constructivist teacher is like a/an …., because …" was sent to academicians' mail addresses. A metaphor form developed by the researchers was sent to the academicians via the internet (docs.google.com) and the data were saved in the internet in a way that can only be seen by the researchers. In the study, content analysis technique was used. Results: Among all 94 metaphorical images, 54 of them were indicated by only one academician, 12 of them were indicated by only two academicians. The metaphors indicated by all academicians and mostlyindicated ones are the following: Guide, master, maestro, director, architect, artist and democratic leader. In this part, 14 conceptual categories related to Constructivist Teacher were developed. These categories are: (i) Teacher who directs student in all aspects, (ii) Teacher that only applies the rules / Teacher that only performs, (iii) Nondiscriminatory teacher that cares about diversities and values, (iv) Teacher that supports the interaction among students, (v) Teacher that guides learning, (vi) Teacher that applies cognitive steps such as analysis, synthesis, (vii) Teacher that designs instructional process, (viii) Teacher that transfers knowledge/disciplines, (ix) Teacher that supports meaningful learning and creative thinking, (x) Teacher that creates discussion environment...