Abstract:

This study aims to investigate the metaphorical perceptions of the pre-service primary school teachers about the concept of the science laboratory. In this study, a phenomenological design is used. The study group of the study consisted of 87 pre-service primary school teachers who were second grade students at a public university. The data of the study were obtained by completing the statement of “For me, laboratory is similar to…. Because….” by the participants in open-ended questionnaire form. The open ended questionnaire form was applied to the participants as two stages as before and after the “Science and technology laboratory I” course. The collected data were analyzed and interpreted by the content analysis technique. Participants produced 51 metaphors in the first application and 56 metaphors in the second application. The metaphors presented were gathered under a total of 6 categories including entertainment environment, production center, scientific working environment, trial-and-error, unwanted environment, and exploration environment. In the pre-test, the most commonly used metaphor was underproduction center category. In the post-test, the most commonly used metaphor was under exploration environment category.

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