INVESTIGATION OF PRE-SERVICE SCIENCE TEACHERS’ COGNITIVE STRUCTURES TOWARDS THE CONCEPT OF TECHNOLOGY

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to expose the cognitive structures of the pre-service science teachers' to the concept of "technology". The research data were collected from 24 teacher candidates who were educated in science education department of a university during 2015-2016 academic year. In the research, word association test (WAT) was used as a data collection tool. The concept of "technology" has been identified as the keyword. Within 30 seconds, the pre-service teachers wrote the words related to the concept of "technology" to the WAT. In the frame of the data obtained from the research, the words and frequencies are tabulated. Pre-service teachers’ words related to the concept of "technology" have been turned into concept networks. When the words written by the pre-service teachers about the concept of "technology" were examined, it was seen that 82 different words were written. It has been determined that pre-service science teachers are related to the concept of "technology" and “computer (f:20)”, “telephone (f:14)”, “television (f:9)”, “tablet (f:8)” and “science (f:6)” words. The findings of the research show that the pre-service science teachers relate the concept of "technology" with technological tools (computer, telephone, television, home appliances, refrigerator, heater, mixer etc.). It has been determined that some pre-service teachers relate the concept of "technology" with some tools used in the field of science (voltmeter, microscope, etc.).