Abstract

The objective of this study is to use personal analogy as a pre-organizer. The subject of the personal analogy is chosen as minerals. For this purpose, geography teacher candidates were asked the questions, ‘Which mineral would you like to be? Why?’  They explain the properties of the minerals by matching them with their own characteristics. It is considered that the study will increase their awareness level of the environment. The study was carried out with 67 geography teacher candidates taking the Geomorphology Practice lecture in Karadeniz Technical University, Fatih Education Faculty and Department of Geography Teaching between the academic years 2012-2014. The study is phenomenological. The content analysis was carried out using NVivo 10 software on the data obtained in the research and a model, in which the findings were visualized, was created. As a result of the study, it was found out that most of the geography teacher candidates would like to express themselves by amethyst due to its psychological effect, the attractiveness of its colour and its aesthetic look. Furthermore, minerals were categorized under seven themes according to their aspects of analogy, which are the impression, appearance, the process of formation, content, areas of use, processing conditions and values. It was also found that geography teacher candidates use the concept of the mineral in the place of element and stone. As a result of the study, recommendations were given to promote the application of personal analogies in geography lectures at undergraduate level.

Key words: Mineral, personal analogy, geography teaching, synectics.