The Effect Of Planetarium Trip On PreService Science Teachers’ Metaphorical Perceptions About Planetariums

Abstract

The study aimed at examining the effect of the planetarium trip on metaphors developed by the pre-service science teachers about the concept of planetarium. Within this context of the study, a trip was organized to Ondokuz Mayıs University (OMU) Planetarium. Pretest-posttest control group design, one of the experimental designs, was used in the study. Total 64 fourth year pre-service science teachers, 42 females and 22 males, participated in the study. As a result of the study, it was observed that the pre-service teachers in experimental group participated in the planetarium trip and developed metaphors related to the concept of planetarium in a six week process and all of these metaphors changed completely except for one participant. There was no change with the metaphorical perceptions of nearly fifth quarters of the pre-service teachers’ in control group in the same time interval.  It was determined that the pre-service teachers in experimental and control groups mostly grouped planetariums in the space research centre’s category during the pre-interviews.