Hülya Pehlivan

High School Students' Metaphorical Perceptions of Biology and Biology Teacher Concepts.

The purpose of the s tudy was to identify and analyse high school s tudents ’ metaphorical perceptions of biology and biology teacher concepts . The sample comprised all the 515 students s tudying in the Etimesgut dis trict in Ankara in the spring semester of the 2015/2016 academic year. The data were gathered through a form which included the phrases ‘Biology/the biology teacher is similar to/the same as..., because...’ The data for the research were collected through qualitative research methods. The research approach adopted was phenomenological. Content analysis was used for the data analysis. According to the results , high school s tudents use different metaphors to describe the biology concept. These metaphors are united under di fferent conceptual categories in terms of their common qualities. The study results show how metaphors can be used as an important research tool in understanding and explaining the perceptions of students towards biology and biology teacher.

The Reflections of Science High School Students’ Situational Factors to Their Attitudes towards Chemistry Courses and Their Academic Self-Concept

Abstract The purpose of this study is to examine science high school students’ attitudes towards chemistry class and their academic self-concept on the basis of a) the amount of money allocated for the student’s education b) the unit that provide the necessary money for the student c) the institution where the student is currently studying and d) the residential unit where the student’s family lives. This study was conducted on Ankara Science High School students and a total of 323 students were contacted. A 34-item attitude scale on chemistry courses, an 8-item academic self-concept scale and the personal information form were used. The alpha reliability of the attitude scale which was used as a data collection tool on chemistry courses was found to be 0,96 while the alpha reliability of the academic self-concept scale was found to be 0,84.In data analyses, t test was used in the comparison of binary groups and one-way analysis of variance was used in the comparison of more than two groups. According to the obtained results of the study, the attitudes of the science high school students towards chemistry courses and the academic self-concept didn’t change regarding the amount of money allocated for the student’s education. In terms of providing the money for the students education, 0,05 significant difference was found in favour of the students who get a scholarship while 0,05 significant difference was found in the academic self-concept of the students. No significant differences were found on the basis of the residential unit where the student’s family lives. Keywords: Science High School, Chemistry Courses, Attitude, Attitude towards Chemistry Courses.