Investigating of 8 Grade Students' Perceptions of Technology through Their Cartoons
Journal Name:
- Amasya Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi
Keywords (Original Language):
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Abstract (2. Language):
Problem Statement: Besides educational environments, all of the areas we live in have benefited from technological advances. For this reason, especially, the perspectives of the youth on technology are crucial. Unfortunately, related literature has echoed that students' understanding and perceptions about science and technology concepts are very poor. In this study, 8th graders' understandings about the concepts of science and technology the relation between them, and how technology affects their daily lives, was investigated.
Purpose of the Study: The main purpose of the study is to determine 8th grade students' perception of technology through cartoons drawn by them.
Method(s): In this study, in which we are trying to determine 8th graders' perception and thinking about the concept of technology through cartoons drawn by them, the phenomenological approach was used. According to Lester (1999), epistemologically, phenomenological approaches are based on a paradigm of personal knowledge and subjectivity, and emphasise the importance of personal perspective and interpretation. As a qualitative research approach, phenomenology lightens the specific, to identify phenomena through how they are perceived by individuals. That is gathering 'deep' information and perceptions through inductive, qualitative methods and representing it from the perspective of the research participants. Participants in this study consisted of 150 students selected from two different middle schools in Adıyaman and Gaziantep centre. First, a teacher presented some cartoons to the students during two lessons. Then, the students in sample group were asked to draw a cartoon about their perspective on technology and effect of it in their daily life. At the end of the task, the cartoons of the students were subjected to content analysis. The cartoons were analysed through a grading scale created by the researchers. Themes were established to assess data. Additionally, semi-structured
interviews were applied with ten students. Some expressions obtained from the interviews, which were seen as interesting, were written and these expressions were compared with their cartoons.
Findings and Discussions: The students referred to the personification and analogies in their cartoons and they frequently used examples from daily life. This limited perception of technology hinders the meaning between the dynamics of scientific progress and the relation of them to scientific research. The general opinion in the cartoons is that technology makes life easy. However, some students have the opinion that technological developments negatively affect their lives. The other finding was that the cartoons differed according to gender. While drawings of girls usually focused on home appliances, drawings of the boys was focused on computers, cars and phones. On the other hand, the study shows that there is a belief in the minds of the students that technology has an unequal effect on the different parts of society. In the study, it was seen that students assess the process of technological progress depending on the change of electronic equipment. In this research, it is seen that by adding humour and creativity to the learning environment, students can make meaningful evaluations, criticism and reviews about science and technology.
Conclusions and Recommendations: Results of the study show that the cartoons drawn by students have been affected by variables such as gender, socio-economic and socio-cultural structure. For this reason, in the teaching programmes that were drafted to reach students' technology perception to meaningful and scientific understanding, and in the teaching methods, activities could be designed appropriately to appeal to personal and social variables such as gender, socio-economic and socio-cultural structure. This is important for positive Science-Technology-Society outcomes in science and technology lessons. Teachers must determine characteristic concepts of science and technology and use them in the teaching process.
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Abstract (Original Language):
Bu çalışmanın amacı 8. Sınıf öğrencilerinin çizdikleri karikatürler yoluyla teknolojiye yönelik algılarını incelemektir. Araştırmanın çalışma grubunu çeşitli devlet okullarından seçilen 150 öğrenci oluşturmaktadır. Uygulama sonunda öğrencilerin çizdikleri karikatürler içerik analizine tabi tutulmuştur. Ayrıca, bazı öğrencilerle de mülakat yapılmıştır. Öğrencilerin çizdikleri karikatürlerde kişiselleştirmeye-analojilere başvurdukları ve sıklıkla günlük yaşamdan örnekler verdikleri görülmüştür. Karikatürlere yansıyan genel görüş teknolojinin yaşamı kolaylaştırdığı yönündedir. Ancak bazı öğrenciler teknolojik gelişmelerin yaşamımızı olumsuz etkilediği görüşündedir. Aynı zamanda öğrenci karikatürlerinin cinsiyet, sosyo¬ekonomik ve sosyo-kültürel yapı gibi değişkenlerden etkilendiği de görülmüştür.
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