Examining the metaphorical perceptions of secondary school students about mathematics

Metaphor is considered as a strong mental model in that it allows to project a particular mental schema to another mental schema. Metaphors, as a powerful mental modeling mechanism for individuals' perceptions, have attracted the attention of educators in recent years. In this study, it is aimed to determine the metaphors that secondary school students have about the concept of mathematics and to reveal the relationships of these metaphors with some personal variables such as academic achievement, grade level, and gender. The raw data of the study was obtained from 486 middle school students completing the statement "math is like …….. because ……..". The obtained data were analysed with quantitative / qualitative data analysis techniques. In the study, 381 valid metaphors were obtained and these metaphors were divided into 8 different categories according to the meaning of the metaphor. These are the categories of "labour", "disliked", "loved", "difficult", "necessary", "fun", "inclusive" and "useful". The category with the highest frequency was the difficulty category. So from the students' point of view, mathematics is a difficult subject. According to the findings of the study, there is no significant difference between metaphor categories and gender. It has been determined that as the grade level increases, the mathematics course becomes more difficult in the eyes of the students. A significant relationship was found between students' general achievement levels and metaphor categories. A significant relationship was also found between students' math achievement levels and metaphor categories. According to the results of the research; Students' success in mathematics depends on their awareness that they need to put effort and effort into the mathematics lesson, and that mathematics responds to people's needs, that is, mathematics is important and necessary. Keywords: Metaphor, Metaphor category, Math Succes, Secondary School Students