Determining the Pre-Service Teachers' Perceptions of Atom and Atomic Structure through Word Association Test

• Published in: Asia-Pacific forum on science learning and teaching Vol. 20; no. 1; pp. 1 - 29
• Main Authors: Eryilmaz Mustu, Özlem, Özkan, Emin Berk
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hong Kong Hong Kong Institute of Education 01.08.2019; The Education University of Hong Kong, Department of Science and Environmental Studies
• Subjects: Answer Sheets; Association Measures; Associative Learning; Chemistry; Cognitive Development; Cognitive Structures; Concept Teaching; Educational Environment; Learning; Misconceptions; Nuclear Physics; Perceptions; Preservice Teachers; Pretests Posttests; Science education; Science Instruction; Science Teachers; Scientific Concepts; Secondary School Science; Student Attitudes; Students; Teacher education; Teaching
• ISSN: 1609-4913; 1609-4913

The aim of this study is to determine the pre-service teachers' perceptions of atom and atomic structure through a word association test. It is important to concretize the concepts having a significant influence on the learning of subjects. Through this concretization, students' understanding of the concepts and accordingly of the subjects is facilitated. The word association test used in the current study consists of nine key concepts chosen from the unit "Atom and Atomic Structure". It was given 15 seconds to the participants for each key concept. Content analysis was conducted for the analysis of the data. The frequency table was formed taking into consideration the frequency of given responses. Accordingly, the mind maps were generated to indicate the relations among concepts. With the word association pre-test, it is found that the pre-service teachers could not express many concepts related to the unit correctly. Although the findings of the post-test indicate that there is slight increase in the pre-service teachers' correct expression of the concepts, the results show that the pre-service teachers still have difficulty in perceiving the concepts in the unit "Atom and Atomic Structure".