Systematic literature review of studies on cognitive structures in science education in Turkey

The aim of this study is to determine the trends of cognitive structure research published in the field of science education in Turkey. For this purpose, 156 studies (113 articles, 34 postgraduate theses and 9 papers) published between 2003 and 2023 were analysed. These studies were accessed from the National Thesis Centre of the Council of Higher Education, articles published by Turkish researchers searched in national and international databases, and abstracts and full-text proceedings of national congresses/conferences/symposia held in Turkey. The research was conducted using document analysis method. In order to evaluate the studies, the publication classification form prepared for the subject area by making use of the literature was used. The distribution of the studies examined with the publication classification form was determined according to the year, language of publication, place of publication, type of publication, subject of the study, research model, sample, research method, data analysis, results and recommendations. The analyses made according to these categories were presented with values such as frequency and percentage. According to the findings, it was seen that many studies were conducted on cognitive structures in science education and these studies were intensive between 2017-2020. When the studies were examined, it was determined that there were more articles, they were carried out with students studying at undergraduate and graduate level, and the studies were mostly conducted to determine the cognitive structures of individuals related to a subject. It was seen that the studies were mostly conducted in qualitative research design and word association test was used as a data collection tool in almost all of them. In addition, it was found that the cognitive structures of the sample were incomplete and that they had misconceptions about the subject. Due to the scarcity of systematic literature review studies on science education, it is thought that the thesis topic will both contribute to the literature on cognitive structure applications and serve as a guide by providing resources for researchers who will study on this subject.