Abstract
INVESTIGATING THE METAPHORICAL PERCEPTIONS OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TOWARDS THE CONCEPT OF ROBOTICS
The aim of this study is to investigate metaphorical perceptions of high school students towards the concept of robotics. The research has been conducted in line with the phenomenology pattern. The study group of the research consists of 211 10th and 12th grade students who were studying at Sırrı Yırcalı Anadolu Lisesi and Muharrem Hasbi Anadolu Lisesi which are located in Balıkesir Karesi District in the 2016-2017 academic years. Data of the study were collected through the use of the prompt “Robotics is like/as ………….. because ………….”. Content analysis method was used to analyze the data. When research results are examined; 180 high school students developed 149 different metaphors for robotics. These metaphors are categorized into 14 conceptual categories with regard to their common features as “Design/Production/Creativity” (f=24), “System” (f=23), “Assistant” (f=20), “Progress” (f=17), “Interest” (f=17), “Lack of Knowlodge” (f=16), “Future” (f=13), “Negative” (f=6), “Algoritmic Thinking” (f=10), “Anthropoid” (f=7), “Value” (f=7), “Common Use” (f=6), “Effort” (f=5) and “Unexpected Things” (f=3). When the categories reached in the research are examined, it is seen that the perceptions of robotics concept of students in the research are generally positive, lack of information about this concept and they have also negative perception.
Keywords
robotics, metaphor, high school students.
