Reading the Concept Map of Physics Teacher Candidates: A Case of Light

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the ability of physics teacher candidates' to read a concept map previously prepared by the researchers about a light topic and then convert the concept map into the appropriate text. The study was carried out in the form of case study method in a Turkish University in the Black Sea Region with 32 physics teacher candidates in the 2016-2017 academic years. To collect data, the concept map about light was given to the physics teacher candidates and they were asked to convert this concept map into meaningful text. The meaningful texts that teacher candidates tried to transform according to the concept map were evaluated according to a reference text. The reference text was prepared by experts. When the findings obtained from the study were examined in general, it was concluded that 78.123% of these physics teacher candidates could read the concept map related to light subjects and concepts at medium level. According to the results of this study, it is recommended that studies related to reading concept maps should be studied for different subjects and concepts.