Metaphorical perceptions and imaginations of secondary school students for science course,science,science teachers and scientists

In this research, it was aimed to determine the metaphors and visual images of the secondary school students' concepts of science course, science teacher, science and scientist. For this purpose, the metaphors and drawings of the secondary school students regarding the concepts of science course, science teacher, science and scientists are examined. In this research, phenomenology method used as qualitative research model. The study group of the study was taken from 4 different schools in İzmir central districts in the academic year of 2015-2016. 485 students studying in 5,6,7,8 classes have formed the study group. A data collection form consisting of eight sections was used as data collection tool in the research. Content analysis method was used to analyze and interpret the data obtained from the participants. The obtained data are tabulated by giving frequency values from descriptive statistics. In the data collection form, 209 different metaphors were created for the science teachers in 26 conceptual categories and 165 different metaphors were created for the science courses in 20 conceptual categories and 162 different metaphors were created for science in 14 conceptual categories and 184 different metaphors were created for scientists in 27 conceptual categories. According to the conceptual categories obtained from the metaphorical perceptions of students, the most developed metaphorical perception of science teachers by students is "scientists" (f = 32). The most developed metaphorical perception of the science course by students was the "experiment" (f = 75). The most developed metaphorical perception of scientists by students is "intelligent" (f = 23). It was seen that the students made drawings to support the metaphorical perceptions. Keywords: Secondary School Students, Science Course, Science Teacher, Science, Scientist, Metaphor