Abstract:
The purpose of this study is to examine mathematics teacher candidates' perceptions
about mathematical proving through metaphors. The participants of the research were 203
mathematics teacher candidates who were having education at the Faculty of Education of the two
state universities in the Central Anatolia region, and they were selected on the basis of
volunteerism. As a means of data collection, the mathematics teacher candidates were given papers
which were written "proving is like...... because......." on. While the metaphors developed by
mathematics teacher candidates were being analyzed, the appropriate and inappropriate metaphors
were determined. Then, the sources of metaphors developed by mathematics teacher candidates for
proving were read in detail, and these metaphors were classified according to their similarities, and
categorized. At the end of the content analysis, the metaphors developed by the participants were
collected under a total of 12 conceptual categories. When these categories were examined, it was
found that 35% of the participants perceived proving as a difficult, complex, boring and
unnecessary process, and their perceptions about proving were negative, while the remaining
participants (65%) had positive perceptions towards proving, and generally the metaphors obtained
were towards explaining the nature of proving.
