Özet:

The purpose of this study is to reveal the changes in the perceptions of prospective science teachers on the concept of atom in terms of their levels of education. In the scope of the study, a two-part word association test was developed as the data collection tool, and it was applied on a total of 194 prospective teachers who were studying in the degree program for science teaching. The data obtained from the first part of the test were analyzed and the concepts that the prospective teachers associated with the concept of atom were determined, and the way these varied based on class levels was analyzed. Using the data obtained by the second part of the test, the meanings of the sentences the participants formed in relation to the atom and related concepts and the way this nature changed based on class levels were analyzed. The finding that prospective teachers on different levels associated similar concepts with the atom and formed sentences that contained alternative concepts in a similar way, showed that the atom, which is a subject of teaching on different levels since the secondary schools, was not internalized in agreement with scientific knowledge by a significant proportion of the prospective science teachers. Additionally, the analyses showed that no significant change occurred in learning the atom and related concepts based on levels of education.

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