Metaphoric Perceptions of Preservice Teachers Regarding Technological Change

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to determine metaphoric perception of preservice teachers from different fields regarding technological change and to examine the differences and similarities between perceptions of preservice teachers (1st and 4th grades). This study employed single case (holistic) study as a qualitative approach. Participants consisted of 445 preservice teachers who have continued their education in different programs in 2019-2020 academic year in Faculty of Education. After informing participants about metaphor technique and its applications, each participant was asked to fill out a structured form. The structured form included a prompt: “Technological change is like ......, because......”. Content analysis technique was employed to analyze the data. Content analysis included developing conceptual categorization and themes based on the reasoning of metaphors. Results showed that most of the participants had similar metaphoric perception regarding technological change, considering “metaphoric categories” and “conceptual categories.” However, “metaphoric categories” and “metaphoric concepts” had similarities and differences by year. And, “technological change as societal/cultural interaction” theme emerged from the analysis. This theme consisted of two categories (influencer and influenced) and these two categories were grouped in three sub-categories. Overall, the results indicate that preservice teachers’ perceptions of “technological change” concept had some variations.