Pupils’ metaphors regarding the concept of astronomy in a secondary school social studies course

Abstract

The year 2019 was proclaimed the year of astronomy literacy by the European Astronomical Union (EAU). Several countries around the world have now started to focus more on space and astronomy endeavours and have shaped their curriculum as a result. Therefore, the perceptions and views of secondary school pupils taking social studies courses on astronomy and astronomy literacy are equally significant. The purpose of this study was to reveal the metaphors used by 5th, 6th and 7th grade pupils taking social studies courses regarding the concept of astronomy. In the present study, a metaphor application was administered to a total of 222 pupils, 74 pupils from each grade level. The research questions were "What are the metaphors of the pupils regarding the concept of astronomy?" and "Which categories are the metaphors created by the pupils related to?". The data obtained were analysed using descriptive analysis and content analysis. In the present study, it was evident that the pupils mostly associated astronomy with concepts such as space, universe, planet, and astronomy, and concretised astronomy through science and social studies concepts. Only a few of the participants, unlike the others, associated astronomy with concepts such as mine, picking flowers from the mountains, fireflies flying, the unknown, and cells. The concepts are grouped into six categories: science, science and social, social, fear, imagination and nature. The pupils associated astronomy metaphors with science (f 118) the most and with the nature category (f 2) the least.