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The analysis
of high school students’ perceptions towards “environment”
concept
Hüseyin Kaya*, Mücahit
Coşkun and Fatih Aydın
Department of Geography Education, Faculty of
Science and Literature, Baliklar Kayasi -78050, Karabük
University, Karabük, Turkey.
*Corresponding
author. E-mail:
huseyinkaya@karabuk.edu.tr.
Tel:
00905052342840, 009021243382200.
Accepted 25 May, 2010 |
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This research was carried out to put forward high
school students’ metaphors towards “environment” concept.
The study group of the research consisted of 136 students
that attend Prof. Dr. Mümtaz Turhan Social Sciences High
School in Istanbul Turkey in
the second term of 2009/2010 academic year. The data of the
research were gathered by completing “Environment is like…
because …” statement. The analysis and interpretation of the
data were done using the phenomenological science design and
content analysis technique of qualitative research method.
According to the findings of the research, high school
students produced 60 valid metaphors towards “environment”
concept. The metaphors mentioned were classified into seven
conceptual categories (environment as the expression of
pollution, beauty, life, space, importance, reflection and
variation) in terms of their common features. The research
results indicate that students produced more metaphors that
emphasize the importance of environment
followed by the metaphors that express reflection, space and
beauty. In the suggestions section, it was emphasized that
teachers should teach the concepts via metaphors and such
applications should be carried out to different student
groups, teachers, teacher candidates and parents.
Key words:
Metaphor, environment, student, geography, environment
education. |
