THE MENTAL MODELS OF SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHER CANDIDATES ON GLOBAL WARMING

This study was conducted to reveal the mental models of social studies teacher candidates about global warming. In this direction, the pictures of the participants were examined. In the qualitative research design, the study group consisted of 71 prospective teachers who continued their education in the social studies teaching departments of the faculty of education in the 2018- 2019 academic year, which was selected with the easily accessible sampling method, which is one of the purposive sampling methods. As a data collection tool, semi-structured interview form prepared by the researchers was used. Content analysis was used to analyze and interpret the data obtained from the participants. As a result of the findings and interpretation of the findings, it has been revealed that pre-service teachers have mental models that are incompatible with scientific knowledge about global warming. Prospective teachers see global warming as a negative concept. While the drawings about the reasons are more scientific than the drawings about the results; the biggest deficiency was the measures to be taken against global warming