Analysis of middle school 5th grade students' metaphorical perceptions and drawings of the concept of recycling in the context of social sciences course

The aim of this study is to reveal the perceptions of 5th grade middle school students about the concept of "Recycling" through metaphors and drawings within the scope of Social Studies course. In this direction, the metaphors and drawings created by 5th grade middle school students about the concept of "Recycling" were analyzed. Each student participating in the study was asked to complete the metaphor "Recycling is like...because..." and to make a drawing about the concept of Recycling. The sample group of the study, which was conducted with a qualitative research design, consisted of 386 5th grade students studying in Sarıyer and Arnavutköy districts of Istanbul province in the 2024-2025 academic year. In the analysis phase of this data, 36 data were invalid and 350 valid data were obtained. As a result of the analysis of the drawings, 87 students' drawings were invalidated and a total of 263 valid data were obtained. Content analysis method was used in the analysis and interpretation of the data obtained from 5th grade middle school students, and as a result of the research, it was determined with which metaphors and drawings 5th grade middle school students expressed the concept of Recycling. According to the results of the research, the data obtained from the metaphors were divided into groups and the most frequently mentioned themes were "Silent Miracles of the Human Spirit: Hope, Resistance and Starting Over"and "Recreating with Imagination: Repair, Design and Transformation through Art". The themes he mentioned the least were "The Story of Things Never Ends: The Transformation of Objects with New Tasks "and" The Power of Nature to Renew Itself: The Cycle of Life and Ecological Hope". When the data obtained from the drawings were grouped, the most frequently mentioned theme was "Consuming Human, Consuming Spirit" and the least frequently mentioned theme was "Beauty from Garbage". As a result of the research, it was seen that the metaphors and drawings generally contained similar themes. In both forms of expression, it is seen that students generally perceive recycling as a dangerous, destructive and irreversible process, and at the same time, they evaluate it as a process that can be improved within various measures and solutions that can be taken. Keywords: Metaphor, middle school students, recycling, social studies