A definitive study on the mental structures of teacher candidates for multi function agricultural literacy

In this study, it is aimed to reveal the mental structures of teacher candidates related to the key concepts of multifunctional agricultural literacy. Descriptive scanning model was used for this purpose. The study group of the research consists of senior students studying at Bolu Abant İzzet Baysal University Faculty of Education, Faculty of Theology and Graduate School of Physical Education and Sports in 2016-2017 academic year. In the study, word association test was applied to the study group during the data collection process. In this test, "Food, Food Safety, Food Processing, Nutrition, Halal Food, Additives, Nutritional Diseases, Food Allergy, GMO and Energy" key concepts are given, respectively. In the process of data analysis; frequency tables were formed from the answer words given by the students to the Word Association Tests and based on the data in these tables, mind maps revealing the cognitive structures related to multifunctional agricultural literacy were created for each group of students. Research results; i) in the word association test, pre-service teachers produce different answer words related to the key concepts related to multifunctional agricultural literacy, but they differ according to the branches of the prospective teachers, ii) mind maps drawn from the data obtained from the frequency table are aimed at multi-functional agricultural literacy. revealed that they have possible misconceptions and that their mental structures are not sufficiently branched. The possible consequences of the results in the context of multiple agricultural literacy were discussed within the branches of prospective teachers. Keywords: Multifunctional agricultural literacy, teacher candidate, mental structure, word association test