The Use of Analogy for the Determination of Pre-Service Science Teachers' Cognitive Structures about the Concept of Atom

Students try to understand many abstract concepts by using mental models they have created by thinking and imagining. Students must have a functional and dynamic atomic model in their minds in order to understand the atomic and atomic concepts. In this study; it was aimed to determine the models of science student candidates using the analogy of atomic concepts by using analogies. The study carried out in the spring semester of 2016-2017 academic year; 47 science teachers were involved with the undergraduate students studying in the second grade. In the study, it was desired to establish an analogy of the atomic concept and to explain this analogy in order to determine the atomic models in the minds of the prospective teachers. Subsequently, in the course of modern physics, the students were told about the atom and atom modeling, and they were asked to establish an analogy with the atomic concept. First of all, their characteristics were examined by analyzing the types of analogies, origin, relationship and similarity that teacher candidates established. Then the answers given by the teacher candidates were separated by categorized by qualitative analysis method and the frequency values were obtained. It has been determined that prospective teachers use daily information in their analogies and use concrete concepts to establish analogies. It is also seen that teacher candidates often try to establish similarities in their analogies in their constructs. Teacher candidates have established similarities in the analogies of atoms such as shape, orientation, disintegration. The analogies used by the prospective teachers initially represented Dalton, Thomson and Bohr atom models; and modern atomic theory, Bohr and Rutherford atomic models. It has been determined that the students do not represent any atomic model of the analogy established by the 7th modern physics lesson before 19th.