Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to analyze views of pre-service science teachers (PST) towards concepts of model and modeling. The sample of the study was included 40 PST. All participants were senior students from the department of science education in a State University. The research was conducted during the spring semester of 2012-2013 academic years. A questionnaire was prepared in order to collect data. The questionnaire was composed of open-ended questions and true-false statements. Content analysis and descriptive analysis methods were used to analyze data. From the findings of the study, it can be inferred that PSTs had adequate knowledge about models and modeling. On the other hand, it was seen that PSTs were unaware that representatives they use in their daily lives were models and there were some gaps and mistakes in their knowledge about which examples could be models, and model types.

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