Abstract:

The aim of this study is to reveal the cognitive structures of classroom and social studies teachers regarding the concept of "teacher" through word association test (WAT). The study group of the study, in which the holistic multiple-case design was preferred, consisted of a total of 216 classroom and social studies teachers working in various public schools in Samsun. The study group was determined according to the convenient sampling method. The data were collected using the WAT prepared by the researchers. In the analysis of the data, descriptive and content analysis techniques were used together. Classroom and social studies teachers participating in the research associated the concept of "teacher" with 343 different words and repeated these words 1888 times in total. In the research, the words most associated with the concept of teacher by the general participants; love (f=81), school (f=75) and mother (f=71). As a result of the analysis of the associated words, ten different themes emerged. These themes are education (33.8%), character and personality traits (21.5%), national and spiritual values (17.1%), family (7.8%), difficulties and negativities (7%), nature and environment (6.2%), occupations (2.5%), other (1.9%), entertainment (1.2%) and skills (1%). As a result of the research, it was determined that the perceptions of classroom and social studies teachers towards the concept of "teacher" have both similar and some different characteristics. The finding that classroom teachers have a more emotional and sincere perception towards the concept of "teacher" than social studies teachers is one of the most striking results of the study. It was determined that social studies teachers associated the concept of "teacher" with words containing more negativity than classroom teachers.

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