A Metaphor Analysis of Mathematics Teacher Candidates' Connotations about the Concept of Mathematics

In this study, the connotations of the concept of mathematics belong to the teacher candidates who have participated in the formation certificate program in different years were examined. In the study, 32 teacher candidates who graduated from the mathematics departments of the Faculty of Arts and Science in 2014-15 and 27 teacher candidates in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences who were studying in 3rd and 4th grades in 2017-18 participated. The research is a qualitative research with phenomenological design. A questionnaire containing two open-ended questions to determine the connotations about the concept of mathematics and the causes of these connotations was given and the data were analysed by content analysis method. The 150 connotations of teacher candidates were classified according to the categories determined in 8 different studies examined in the literature and these categories are classified within themselves then the themes of Definition, Description and Emotion are determined. It was observed that teachers' candidates emphasized mathematics as a model trying to understand life and its contents and as a necessary tool for life.