Comparison of Interdisciplinary History and Science Concepts from the Cognitive Aspect with Word Association Test

Abstract

This study aims to compare and contrast the connotations of the concepts of "science" and "history" that were formed
in the minds of students attending both Faculty of Science and Letters, History Department and Faculty of Education,
Science Education Department at Ağrı İbrahim Çeçen University. The participants of the study are 173 students from
the History Department, including the whole education level of the department and 71 students from Science
Education Department including all classes. The participants were asked what they mean by the concepts of
"science" and "history" and what connotations they made. Survey method is used in a descriptive research model.
The Word Association Test (WAT) related to history and science has been utilized as a data collection tool.
According to findings received after the analysis, it is found that there was no significant difference between
cognitive sentence structures of the students, who are attending different disciplines, towards both the concept of
history and science. As a result of the Word Association Test, although there are some differences according to the
departments of education, many concepts in general are similar. When examining the cognitive sentence structures
for the concepts, there is a need for research on the interrelationship of basic concepts with special areas. Thus, this
research gains more importance.