Teacher educators' views of "model" concept and their mental models

Abstract

The aim of this study is to reveal teacher educators' views of model and also to determine their mental models about it. Phenomenographic research design has been carried out in this study. the sample of study consists of 14 teacher educators from education faculties of different universities in Turkey. Semi-structured interviews that consisted of 7 questions were used to collect data. Besides, sample was asked draw a concept map on "model" in the last interview question. Results have shown that teacher educators give similar responses including unqualified explanations to the interview questions related to the definition of model, characteristics of them, and the objectives of using models. It can also be asserted, that teacher educators do not have scientific understanding on the modeling process. the analyses of their responses to the interview questions and their concept maps have shown that most of the teacher educators in the sample have proximate or goal oriented mental models of the "model". Considering the results, it is suggested that teacher educators should not only follow the new theories, methods, or the applications in related literature theoretically, but also employ different theories, methods, or applications such as models and modeling in their courses.