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Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 20, Issue 1, Article 5 (Aug., 2019) |
The individual processes information he/she received from the environment at different levels being the sensation and perception. Sensation means the individual’s forming sensitivity towards actual events. Hotness of tea, sound of a bird and scent of a flower can be shown as an example. Perception is on the other hand is making sense of the sensations received from the environment (Kaya, 2012). Relaxing effect of a beautiful fragrance on the individual occurs as a result of the perception this individual has created in response to physically felt fragrance. The individual perceives his/her environment through his/her sense organs. The individual’s creating a response after processing the information perceived through sense organs with his/her brain means that the perception towards this information has developed.
Learning of a subject and reinforcing of this learning depend on many factors. One of the most remarkable of these factors is concepts. Concepts are the mental tools necessary to maintain healthy interpersonal communication (Senemoğlu, 2010). On the basis of the subjects lay the concepts; thus, teaching of concepts is necessary before teaching subjects (Kaya, 2010).
In a learning environment, concepts are presented to students by means of various techniques. The learning of these presented concepts by the student is a process of structuring and constructing (Karamustafaoğlu, Karamustafaoğlu & Yaman, 2005). In the learning of concepts, construction of relationships between these concepts is of great importance. The student constructs various perceptions of the information sensed while learning concepts. If he/she uses an appropriate technique, the student will be able to construct the concept correctly by establishing an accurate relationship between the concepts he/she has perceived.
By its nature science is a discipline including abstract concepts. Correct perception of concepts by the student is of great importance (Schulte, 2001; cited in Bacanak, Küçük & Çepni, 2004). In a study by Bacanak et al., (2004), the fifth and eighth grade students’ level of understanding the concepts of photosynthesis and respiration and their misconceptions about these topics were investigated. As the participants of the study are in the period of transition from concrete period to abstract period, they preferred to use the concrete meaning of the concept of respiration. This indicated that the students have some misconceptions about this topic.
The conceptualization of abstract concepts during concept teaching will make it easier for the student to perceive the concept (Ayas, 2015). If the student has difficulty in associating the newly learned information to his/her prior knowledge network and if he/she cannot construct this new information, it will be highly difficulty for him/her to recall this information (Bahar, 2001). In addition, misunderstandings that science teachers have can cause similar misunderstandings in students (Bradley & Mosimage, 1998, Bacanak et al., 2004). For this reason, the teacher’s having a high level of perception and knowledge will help the student to perceive the new information correctly while structuring this information.
Atomic concept has an important place in teaching many concepts in physics and chemistry courses (Çökelez & Yalçın, 2012). One of the factors that play a role in constructing this abstract concept correctly and meaningfully in the minds of the students is the teachers because, as it is known, teachers have the greatest role in the formation of misconceptions about concepts (Nakiboğlu, 2000). There are many studies investigating the mental models and misconceptions of individuals at different educational levels (elementary school, secondary school, university) about the topic of atom (Harrison & Treagust, 1996; Demircioğlu, Demircioğlu & Ayas, 2004; Tezcan & Salmaz, 2005; Nakiboğlu, 2008; Çökelez & Yalçın, 2012; Karagöz & Sağlam Arslan, 2012). While the mental models constructed by individuals about the atomic concept are sometimes correct, they sometimes hold misconceptions about the concept.
It has been increasingly observed with each year that traditional methods are not enough to measure the levels of learners’ knowledge or to evaluate the levels of their learning in a subject. The training of students according to a particular pattern can lead to difficulties in shaping and directing the information they acquire. In order to overcome these difficulties, it seems to be necessary to make use of alternative instructional and evaluation methods rather than traditional ones, which is believed to have significant influences on students’ development (Ercan, Taşdere & Ercan, 2010; Kurt, Ekici, Aktaş & Aksu, 2013; Özata Yücel & Özkan, 2014; Atabek Yiğit, 2016).
The word association test (WAT), one of the oldest and most common educational tools used to measure the cognitive structure of learners, is a technique used to measure the concepts in the long-term memory of learners and the adequacy of the relationships between these concepts (Bahar, Johnstone & Sutchliffe, 1999; Kurt et al., 2013; Bahar, Nartgün, Durmuş & Bıçak, 2015). It is thought that whether meaningful learning occurs in individuals and the relations between the concepts in their minds can be determined by the WAT, an alternative measurement and evaluation technique (Özatlı & Bahar, 2010). In the WAT, the number of the responses given to the key concept on the answer sheet by students is used to evaluate the students’ cognitive conception of the related topic (Özata Yücel & Özkan, 2014; Atabek Yiğit, 2016). The WAT, which can also be used as a diagnostic tool, is used at the beginning of teaching to determine the knowledge possessed by students about a subject and after the completion of the teaching about the subject it can be reapplied and the results of these two applications can be compared (Bahar et al., 2015).
Bahar et al. (1999) is the first study having been conducted by using the WAT in Turkey. Since then, an increase has been observed in the number of studies conducted by using the WAT both in the field of natural sciences (Uşak, 2005; Kırtak, 2010; Yıldırım, 2011; Yaman, 2012; Özata Yücel, 2013) and in the field of social sciences (Aktürk, 2012; Aydemir, 2014).
The family and the physical environment in which the individual lives have an important role in his/her mental development from birth (Engelmann & Engelmann, 1966; cited in Çabuk, 2014). With the beginning of the education life, teachers get involved in this process and they contribute to the development of skills such as communication (Baykara Pehlivan, 2005), problem solving (Altunçekiç, Yaman & Koray, 2005), computer use (Aşkar & Umay, 2001). The development of these skills can be achieved through a well-organized environment and the contribution of a teacher having a high level of perception and knowledge (Çabuk, 2014). Therefore, it is important to determine how pre-service teachers perceive concepts. In science education, the subject of “Atom” is a basic concept having an important place in physics and chemistry classes. It is important for pre-service teachers to learn exactly the atomic concept and to determine their perceptions of the relevant basic concepts in terms of science education. For this reason, in the current research, it was attempted to determine the pre-service teachers’ existing knowledge about the concepts within the topic of atom and perceptions of these concepts.
The current study aimed to determine the pre-service science teachers’ perceptions of the concepts in the topic of “Atom and Atomic Structure” by using the mind maps. In order to prepare the pre-service teachers’ mind maps, the WAT was used. The concept of atom was selected as the subject of the current research as it is one of the main subjects in the fields of Physics and Chemistry and as they will have to somehow address this concept at every stage of secondary education. The criterion pursued in the selection of the participants was their having passed the general physics and general chemistry courses. During the study, the pre-service teachers also took the course of modern physics. Moreover, the effect of the modern physics course on the pre-service teachers’ perceptions was also investigated.
