Abstract:

The laboratory in science is the learning environment in which learning occurs effectively, where students feel comfortable, where learning occurs through life and where knowledge durability is positively influenced. In this study, it was tried to figure out what the metaphors (mental images) students had about the science knowledge laboratory. The study included a total of 95 high school students, including 44 men and 51 girls, who were educated in a socio-economically low-level secondary school in a province of the Eastern Anadolu region during the spring period of the 2019-2020 educational year. The study was conducted according to the phenomenological pattern of the quality research methods. For the collection of data, each student is like a "Fen knowledge laboratory ....". Because...” The phrase was directed and the students were asked to fill the vacancies. Content analysis and visual analysis techniques have been used for the analysis and interpretation of work data. Students produced 50 different metaphors related to the science knowledge laboratory and these metaphors were evaluated in seven different categories. In these metaphors the most used are the metaphors of the "scientific field", the "place of entertainment" and the "Sun System". As a place of information from these metaphors, the science laboratory, the science laboratory as a mysterious place of curiosity, the science laboratory as a place of discovery, the science laboratory as a place preparing life, the science laboratory as a source of entertainment, the science laboratory as a valuable and useful place, the science laboratory as a necessary place for the course, and the science laboratory as a necessary place for the course have reached a total of seven different categories.

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