INVESTIGATION OF PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS ABOUT CONCEPT OF TECHNOLOGY THROUGH METAPHOR ANALYSIS

The study aims to analyse the perceptions of the students enrolled at Hacettepe University in the Department of Primary Education about technology through the metaphor analysis. This study is considered as a descriptive study. In the study a mixed method including quantitative and qualitative techniques was used. The study was carried out among the 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th grade students studying at Hacettepe University at the Department of Primary Education during the 2007-2008 Fall Term. The perceptions of the pre-service teachers at the Department of Primary Education were analysed through the content analysis. The metaphors developed by pre-service teachers were analysed with appropriate statistical methods to find out whether it differentiates with various variables. In this study pre-service teachers developed one hundred five metaphors on technology and these metaphors were categorised into nine different categories. While there is a significant difference in their perceptions of technology in terms of participants’ general point average and learning to use technology, there is not a significant difference in terms of gender, grade and the frequency of technology use and background information about technology use.