Determining the pre-service teachers’ perceptions of atom and atomic structure through word association test

In this section, the findings derived from the pre-service teachers’ responses to the WAT are examined.

Findings related to propositions written by the pre-service teachers for the key concepts

The frequencies of the correct propositions written by the pre-service teachers for the key concepts and the frequencies of all the propositions written by them for the key concepts are given in Table 1.

Table 1. The Number of the Response Words Written for the Key Concepts

No.	Validity (V)
	BMPC	AMPC
	Correct propositions/all the propositions	Correct propositions/all the propositions
Atom	29 / 45	26 / 37
Nucleus	16 / 31	26 / 37
Electron	19 / 24	17 / 24
Proton	11 / 20	11 / 18
Neutron	4 / 17	7 / 9
Orbit	9 / 23	11 / 17
Spin	13 / 21	10 / 13
Orbital	12 / 17	7 / 11
Quark	4 / 11	6 / 9
Total	117 / 209	115 / 161

As can be seen in Table 1, the pre-service teachers wrote a total of 209 propositions for the nine key concepts related to atom in the WAT before they took the general physics and chemistry courses and 117 of these propositions (55.98%) are correct. It is also seen that a total of 161 propositions were written for the nine concepts in the WAT after they had taken the modern physics course and 115 of these propositions (71.43%) are correct.

Findings related to the mind maps derived from the responses written by the pre-service teachers to the key concepts

In this section, the findings obtained from the mind maps prepared as a result of the content analysis applied to the propositions written by the pre-service teachers for the nine key concepts in the WAT are presented.

The mind maps showing the effect of the general physics and chemistry courses on the pre-service teachers’ perceptions of atom

In this section, the BMPC mind maps showing the pre-service teachers’ perceptions of the concept of atom after they took the general physics and chemistry courses are listed according to the cut point rule.

Figure 1. For CP 50 and Above, The Pre-service Science Teachers’ BMPC Mind Map

For CP 50 and above, the pre-service teachers’ BMPC mind map is shown in Figure 1. For CP 50 and above, it is seen that the pre-service teachers most frequently defined the key concept of “Atom” as the structural unit and associated the key concept of “Nucleus” with the concept of “Proton”.

Figure 2. For CP 49 – 45, the Pre-service Science Teachers’ BMPC Mind Map

For CP 49-45, the pre-service teachers’ BMPC mind map is shown in Figure 2. It is seen that the number of key concepts and associations did not increase for CP 49-45. The pre-service teachers associated the key concept of “Nucleus” with the concept of “Neutron” in this CP. Moreover, they associated the key concept of “Neutron” with the response word “uncharged” and the key concept of “Proton” with the response word “positive”.

Figure 3. For CP 44-40, the Pre-service Science Teachers’ BMPC Mind Map

For CP 44 – 40, the pre-service teachers’ BMPC mind map is shown in Figure 3. In CP 40 – 44, it is seen that the key concept of “Electron” emerged and the pre-service teachers associated this key concept with the response word of “negative”.

Figure 4. For CP 39 – 35, the Pre-service Science Teachers’ BMPC Mind Map

For CP 39 – 35, the pre-service teachers’ BMPC mind map is shown in Figure 4. In CP 39 – 35, the pre-service teachers only associated the key concept of “Orbit” with the key concept of “Electron”.

Figure 5. For CP 34 – 30, the Pre-service Science Teachers’ BMPC Mind Map

For CP 34 – 30, the pre-service teachers’ BMPC mind map is shown in Figure 5. In CP 34-30, the pre-service teachers associated the key concepts of “Atom” and “Nucleus” with the response words of “subatomic particle” and “center”, respectively.

Figure 6. For CP 29 – 25, the Pre-service Science Teachers’ BMPC Mind Map

For CP 29 – 25, the pre-service teachers’ BMPC mind map is shown in Figure 6. For CP 29 – 25, the pre-service teachers associated the key concept of “Electron” with the key concepts of “Atom” and “Orbital”. Moreover, it was also found that the pre-service science teachers made some explanations about the varieties of the key concept of “Orbital”.

Figure 7. For CP 24 – 20, the Pre-service Science Teachers’ BMPC Mind Map

For CP 24 – 20, the pre-service teachers’ BMPC mind map is shown in Figure 7. In CP 24 – 20, it is seen that the pre-service teachers associated the key concepts of “Neutron” and “Proton” with the key concept of “Atom” and they also associated the concept of “Atom” with the response word of “breakable” which is a feature of the concept of atom.

Figure 8. For CP 19 – 15, the Pre-service Science Teachers’ BMPC Mind Map

For CP 19 – 15, the pre-service teachers’ BMPC mind map is shown in Figure 8. In CP 19 – 15, it was determined that the pre-service teachers associated the key concept of “Nucleus” with the key concept of “Orbit”. In this CP, the pre-service teachers were found to associate the features of both the key concept of “Nucleus” and the concept of “Orbital” with various response words.

Figure 9. For CP 14 – 10, the Pre-service Science Teachers’ BMPC Mind Map

For CP 14 – 10, the pre-service science teachers’ BMPC mind map is shown in Figure 9. In CP 14 – 10, the pre-service teachers associated the key concept of “Atom” with the key concept of “Nucleus”. In this CP, it is seen that the associations concerning the key concept of “Electron” are more than the other key concepts. Moreover, the key concept of “Spin” first emerged in this CP and it was associated with the response word of “quantum number”.

Figure 10. For CP 9 – 5, the Pre-service Science Teachers’ BMPC Mind Map

For CP 9 – 5, the pre-service teachers’ BMPC mind map is shown in Figure 10. In CP 9 – 5, it is seen that several characteristics belonging to all the key concepts were associated with various response words. Moreover, when the related mind map is examined, it is seen that the key concept of “Quark” emerged in this CP. It was determined that all the key concepts were somehow associated with each other or response words indicating their characteristics. Yet, it is seen that the key concept of “Spin” was not associated with the other key concepts. In a similar manner, it is seen that the key concepts related to the atomic models are not in the mind map.

Mind maps showing the effect of the modern physics course on the pre-service teachers’ perceptions of atom

Following the administration of the WAT, the pre-service teachers started to take the modern physics course. It was aimed in the current study to determine whether the modern physics course had changed the pre-service teachers’ perceptions of the concept of atom. To this end, the participants were administered the WAT once more after they completed the modern physics course. In this section, the mind maps showing the pre-service teachers’ perceptions of the concept of atom after they had taken the modern physics course are listed according to the CP technique.

Figure 11. For CP 50 and above, the Pre-service Science Teachers’ AMPC Mind Map

For CP 50 and above, the pre-service teachers’ mind map is shown in Figure 11. For CP 50 and above, it is seen that the pre-service teachers only associated the key concepts of “Orbit” and “Electron” with each other.

Figure 12. For CP 49 – 45, the Pre-service Science Teachers’ AMPC Mind Map

For CP 49 – 45, the pre-service teachers’ AMPC mind map is shown in Figure 12. In CP 45 – 49, the key concepts of “Proton” and “Neutron” emerged in the pre-service teachers’ mind map. Moreover, the pre-service teachers associated concepts with the response words related to their charge in this CP.

Figure 13. For CP 44 – 40, the Pre-service Science Teachers’ AMPC Mind Map

For CP 44 – 40, the pre-service teachers’ AMPC mind map is shown in Figure 13. In CP 40 – 44, it is seen that the pre-service teachers only associated the key concept of “Nucleus” with the key concept of “Proton”.

Figure 14. For CP 39 – 35, the Pre-service Science Teachers’ AMPC Mind Map

For CP 39 – 35, the pre-service teachers’ AMPC mind map is shown in Figure 14. In CP 39 – 35, it is seen that the pre-service teachers associated the key concept of “Orbital” with the key concept of “Electron”. Moreover, they associated the key concept of “Nucleus” with the response words related to the characteristics of its structure.

Figure 15. For CP 34 – 30, the Pre-service Science Teachers’ AMPC Mind Map

For CP 34 – 30, the pre-service teachers’ AMPC mind map is shown in Figure 15. In CP 34 – 30, the pre-service teachers associated the key concept of “Nucleus” with the key concept of “Neutron”. Moreover, in this CP, it is seen that the key concept of “Atom” emerged. The key concept of “Atom” was associated with the response word of “Sub-atomic particle”.

Figure 16. For CP 29 – 25, the Pre-Service Science Teachers’ AMPC Mind Map

For CP 29 – 25, the pre-service teachers’ AMPC mind map is shown in Figure 16. In CP 29 – 25, the pre-service teachers associated the key concept of “Nucleus” with the response word “center” and the key concept word of “Atom” with the response word “structural unit”. Moreover, the key concept of “Spin” emerged in this CP. It is seen that the key concept of “Spin” was associated with the key concept of “Electron” and the response word “rotating”.

Figure 17. For CP 24 – 20, the Pre-service Science Teachers’ AMPC Mind Map

For CP 24 – 20, the pre-service teachers’ AMPC mind map is shown in Figure 17. In CP 24 – 20, it is seen that the pre-service teachers associated the key concept of “Orbit” with the key concept of “Nucleus” and the key concept of “Orbital” with the kinds of orbital.

Figure 18. For CP 19 – 15, the Pre-service Science Teachers’ AMPC Mind Map

For CP 19 – 15, the pre-service teachers’ AMPC mind map is shown in Figure 18. In CP 19 – 15, it is seen that the pre-service teachers associated the key concept of “Atom” with different response words. Unlike the other mind maps, in this CP, it was determined that an atomic model was associated as the response word.

Figure 19. For CP 14 – 10, the Pre-service Science Teachers’ AMPC Mind Map

For CP 14 – 10, the pre-service teachers’ AMPC mind map is shown in Figure 19. In CP 14 – 10, it is seen that the key concept of “Quark” emerged. The key concept of “Quark" was associated with the response word “sub-atomic particle”. In this CP, it was determined that the key concept of “Atom” was associated with the key concepts of “Electron” and “Proton”. In this CP, the pre-service teachers associated the key concept of “Orbit” with the response word “layer” and the key concept of “Neutron” with the response word “mass number”.

Figure 20. For CP 9 – 5, the Pre-service Science Teachers’ AMPC Mind Map

For CP 9 – 5, the pre-service teachers’ AMPC mind map is shown in Figure 20. In CP 9 – 5, it was determined that all the key concepts were associated with each other and with various response words indicating the characteristics of these concepts. In the mind map produced in this CP, it is seen that all of the atom models were used as the response words.