Journal of STEM Teacher Institutes

Teacher Candidates’ Metaphorical Perceptions of ChatGPT

Ahmet Aykan — 2025-04-30

This study aims to explore teacher candidates’ metaphorical perceptions of ChatGPT, a language model based on artificial intelligence, by examining the attitudes, expectations, and concerns they hold toward this emerging technology in a comprehensive manner. Adopting a phenomenological approach from the qualitative research tradition, the study included 220 senior-year teacher candidates enrolled in a Faculty of Education at a university. As the data collection tool, a Metaphor Generation Form was developed, prompting participants to complete the statement “ChatGPT is like … because …,” followed by open-ended questions about why they chose these metaphors. Results of the content analysis reveal that participants most frequently characterize ChatGPT positively through metaphors such as a “Knowledge Repository” and an “Assistant/Guide.” Conversely, metaphors like “Black Box/Unfathomable Power” highlight concerns regarding reliability and transparency in this technology. Furthermore, the theme of a “Magic Wand/Miracle” signifies teacher candidates’ high expectations for ChatGPT. When examining the rationale behind the metaphors, it becomes clear that, alongside positive factors like speed and variety, there are notable reservations related to ethics and academic integrity. According to a classification of positive, negative, and neutral attitudes, half of the participants view ChatGPT as beneficial and supportive, whereas roughly one-third remain skeptical or negative due to reliability and ethical issues. Demographic variables (e.g., academic department, familiarity with technology) also shape these metaphorical perceptions; notably, those with higher technological literacy adopt a more optimistic outlook on ChatGPT. These findings suggest that while teacher candidates consider both the potential benefits and ethical-technical risks of AI-based tools like ChatGPT in educational contexts, additional pedagogical and ethical frameworks are necessary for successful integration. The study underscores the importance of AI literacy in future teacher education curricula and suggests that practical coursework and ethical-awareness activities could foster a more informed and responsible stance toward AI technologies.

Prospective Elementary Mathematics Teachers’ Views on the Use of Islamic Geometric Patterns in Mathematics Lessons

Yılmaz Mutlu — 2025-04-30

This study aims to examine the views of prospective elementary mathematics teachers regarding the use of Islamic Geometric Patterns (IGPs) in mathematics lessons. Conducted within a qualitative research design, the study collected data from seven teacher candidates—third-year students who had taken an elective course on IGPs—through a semi-structured interview form. The data were analyzed using content analysis, and a descriptive approach was adopted to interpret the findings based on themes, categories, and codes. The analysis revealed that the experiences and opinions of the teacher candidates about the use of IGPs were grouped under seven main themes: “Interest and Attitude Towards Mathematics,” “Establishing Interdisciplinary Context,” “Creativity and Instructional Design Skills,” “Visualization and the Concretization of Geometric Concepts,” “Integrating Historical and Cultural Context into Teaching,” “Limitations and Challenges,” and “Suggestions for Effective Utilization.” The findings indicate that IGPs can contribute to developing positive attitudes toward mathematics, fostering interdisciplinary integration, supporting creativity and instructional design skills, facilitating the understanding of geometric concepts, and providing a cultural-historical perspective. However, issues such as time management, topic alignment, and material shortages may prevent smooth implementation in every context. The study highlights that IGPs can serve as a potential tool for enriching mathematics teaching, enhancing students’ motivation and comprehension levels, and encourages the development of guiding resources, technological support, collaborative activities, and practical applications to realize this potential.

Identifying the difficulties in developing hypothesis formation skills in science classes

Burcu AYDOĞAN AĞMANALMAZ — 2025-04-30

One of the key components of scientific literacy is scientific process skills. Among scientific process skills, the ability to formulate hypotheses can be considered a higher-order skill. Therefore, it is of great importance to develop and foster this skill in science classrooms. This is because experimental and observational activities, which are inherent to the nature of science, frequently require this skill. The aim of this study is to identify the current state of sixth-grade students' hypothesis-forming skills and to determine the challenges they face in developing this skill. The participant group of the study consists of 42 students attending a middle school located in the city center of Nevşehir. The study was conducted using an exploratory mixed-methods research design. A mixed-methods design is one that involves the collection and integration of both qualitative and quantitative data. In this context, to obtain detailed and comprehensive data considering the challenges in developing hypothesis-forming skills, the quantitative phase of the study included the administration of the Scientific Process Skills Test, the Science Anxiety Scale, and the Science Learning Motivation Scale to the participants. In the qualitative phase of the study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight students selected according to predetermined criteria. In addition, data triangulation was sought through 16 weeks of classroom observations. According to the findings obtained from the analysis of quantitative and qualitative data, the average score students received on hypothesis-forming questions was moderate (M = 2.85) on a six-point scale. The minimum and maximum scores obtained from the hypothesis-forming questions were 2 and 5, respectively. It was observed that students had difficulty identifying the factors to be controlled and the variables to be manipulated in experimental setups. This difficulty in identifying variables was also reflected in their ability to formulate hypotheses. This is because a hypothesis is generally constructed using variables. Furthermore, it can be said that students had difficulty in reading comprehension in the hypothesis-related questions, and thus were unable to establish a meaningful connection between the scenario presented in the question stem and the listed options.