Perception of Migration in the Metaphors of 6th, 7th and 8th-Grade Students in Turkey

The concept of migration is a phenomenon which has existed in human life since the beginning of human history. Turkey has received external migration, especially in recent years, due to its geopolitical position. Therefore, the issue of migration is discussed with its many dimensions in the curricula. In this study, an attempt to determine the meanings attributed to the action of migration by secondary school students studying in the 6, 7 and 8 grades in Turkey through metaphors was made. Since the concept of migration is the phenomenon investigated in the study, the phenomenology design was used in the study. A total of 90 students participated in this study. In the data analysis, descriptive and content analyses were performed, especially based on the reasons for metaphors. At the end of the study, it was determined that 7 and 8-grade students had fewer misconceptions compared to 6-grade students and that the meaning they attributed to migration was richer. The reason for this may be that students receive migration-themed education in the 7 grade. Therefore, it may be suggested to cover migration using student-centered methods and techniques in curricula and to discuss it with various dimensions.


Introduction
Migration, which has emerged as a reality of human history, is defined as the geographic mobility of humans and the population dynamics caused by this mobility [1]. In the dictionary of the Turkish Language Society [2], migration is defined as the "relocation of individuals or communities from one country to another, or from one settlement to another for economic, social, and political reasons, moving, departure, the act of settling in a new place." In the most general sense, migration is defined as "all displacements that take place within a period of time to create a meaningful distance and effect" [3]. When the origin of this concept in Latin is examined, it is observed that it is derived from the word "migrare" [4]. According to Perruchoud and Redpath-Cross [5], migration is the international cross-border movement of a person or group of people or their movement within the state.
Migration studies usually benefit from opponent typologies, such as qualified and unqualified, temporary and permanent, forced and voluntary, to classify different groups and experiences [6,7]. Nevertheless, the ambiguity of borders between the categories is also clearly accepted. Most scientists prefer such dualities to be considered a feature of experiences [8]. The phenomenon of migration, which is classified from different aspects, is generally described as internal and external migration. While internal migration follows a path towards a town, district or city within the country, external migration is the movement of migration from one country to another. Furthermore, migration can be classified as forced and voluntary migration based on the causes of migration, and finally, as labor migration and brain drain based on the characteristics of those who migrate [9].
Human beings have needed to change the territories where they have existed and lived due to various reasons in every period of life. While human beings migrated in small communities to be able to meet their basic vital needs or for security purposes in the first ages, they migrated in larger communities or colonies for reasons, such as more efficient water, food, and land search, wars, epidemics, struggles for power, socio-political and political reasons, due to changing living conditions in later ages. Accordingly, it can be said that there were more frequent migrations to regions where there were no other communities in the first ages and that there have been recently migrations to regions where other communities have existed [10,11].
Nowadays, the phenomenon of migration is one of the most important and unchanging facts of the states and societies. The most important dynamic that affects migration is mainly the economic instability between countries, regions, and groups. However, inequalities of opportunity and conflicts encountered in various areas and at different levels from politics to culture play an important role in migration. Hot, short and long-term conflicts observed in various regions of the world also ensure the continuity of global human mobility [12].
Turkey is located at a "migration junction" due to both its historical and geographical location. Nevertheless, Turkey is sometimes the terminal country at this junction. Indeed, Turkey is a target country for migrants of Turkish origin with its cultural heritage and political tolerance [13,14,15,16]. Turkey has opened its doors to more than 2.5 million people since 1922. When the number of foreigners who have come for business, educational and other purposes, which are not included in this number, is examined, it has been reported that a total of 2.442.159 foreigners obtained a residence permit in the last 13 years [17]. The last period which started with the eruption of the Syrian civil war on March 15, 2011, was the period during which the highest level of migration occurred in Turkey [18]. Life is getting harder and harder in the cities where the Syrians have migrated. The hope for returning home of Syrian refugees, who were considered as unexpected guests at the first stage, is declining with each passing day since the crisis becomes more severe. Syrian refugees are afraid of returning and being killed [19]. The consequences of this situation for Turkey can be physical such as unplanned urbanization and also both health and social consequences such as an increase in crime rates, adaptation problems, and psychological problems [20].
Migration, migrants and the problems after migration, which are always on the agenda for developed countries, are among the issues that should be emphasized by Turkey because of its geopolitical position [21]. These intense movements of migration are predicted to negatively affect Turkey from political, social, economic, and cultural aspects in the future [22]. One of the actions to be taken in this regard is to transfer the concept of migration to the educational environment with all its dimensions. Thus, individual awareness of migration will increase, and future generations will be able to take measures on this issue. The aim of this study was to determine the concept of migration in individuals through metaphors to prepare an educational environment. It was aimed to generate descriptive data for the curricula to be created or developed with this determination.
When people describe or explain migration, they can express the schemes they create in their minds and the meanings they attribute to migration through metaphors. Metaphors stand out as a mechanism of creating a mental model for individuals to understand and structure their inner worlds [23]. The metaphor is to describe facts, situations, and concepts in an indirect way by likening them to other concepts. Individuals use metaphors while revealing their own feelings and thoughts. Thus, individuals reveal the ways in which they perceive themselves and the universe [24,25].
Metaphors are powerful tools in revealing students' perspectives on the concept of migration and reflecting their past experiences, present, and future thoughts. In recent years, there have been many studies in which perceptions of some concepts were determined through metaphors. For example, it has been determined that there are metaphor studies on many concepts like in the studies carried out on the concept of school administrator [26,27,28,29], the concept of teacher [30,31,32,33], and the concept of the environment (nature) [34,35]. However, as a result of the literature review, no study aiming to reveal the perceptions of secondary school students of the concept of migration based on reasons was encountered. Therefore, it was considered necessary to carry out a study to determine the perceptions of the "migration" concept of students especially living in Istanbul province where there is an intense migration wave. In this study, an attempt to seek for an answer to the question "What are 6 th , 7 th and 8 th -grade students' perceptions of the concept of migration within the context of the reasons in their metaphors?" was made.

Research Design
Phenomenology, one of the qualitative research designs, was used in this study. Facts are examined in the phenomenological approach. Facts may be observed in various forms such as events, experiences, perceptions, orientations, concepts, and situations in the world we live in. However, this encounter does not mean that we have fully understood the facts. Phenomenology provides an appropriate research basis for studies aiming at investigating the facts and concepts which are entirely strange to us but the full meaning of which we cannot grasp [36]. In this study carried out with the phenomenological design, the phenomenon is students' metaphoric perceptions of the phenomenon/concept of migration.
In this study, an attempt to determine the meanings attributed to the action of migration by secondary school students studying in the 6 th , 7 th and 8 th grades in Turkey through metaphors was made. As it is known, the metaphor is using a word or concept to mean other meanings than the accepted one [37]. In this study, students were asked to put the concept of migration in the place of an animal, a living being, and an object and to explain it with their reasons. Phenomenology aims to gain an in-depth understanding of the meaning or nature of our daily experiences [38]. It attempts to understand individual meaning-structures (views and perspectives) and intentions of people based on their perspectives. Thus, in human sciences, phenomenology mainly directs to the inner world and consciousness structures of people. The main aim of the analysis is to comprehend the existence and essence of things.

Participant Group
Students receiving primary education in a secondary school located in the Ümraniye District of Istanbul Province in the 2018-2019 academic year constituted the study group of the research. In the study, the maximum diversity sampling method, one of the qualitative research designs, was used to ensure that the meanings attributed to the concept of migration at different grade levels (6 th , 7 th , and 8 th grades) were compared. For this purpose, a total of 90 students including 30 sixth-grade students, 30 seventh-grade students, and 30 eighth-grade students participated in this study. They consisted of 37 male and 53 female students. The data of the participant group are presented in table 1.

Data Collection and Analysis
In the study, the data was collected through metaphors. As it is known, data collection through metaphors is not different from individual and focus interviews that are important in phenomenological design approaches. The nature of the issue, which is investigated by the question "If you were to liken …... to an object, an animal or another living being, what would you liken it to? Why?", can be determined by individuals' subconscious descriptions. Thus, a situation, a phenomenon or event is described, portrayed as it is [36]. From this point of view, students' descriptions of the concept of migration and the meanings they attributed to it were investigated by the question "If you were to liken migration to an object, an animal or another living being, what would you liken it to? Why did you liken migration to it?" In the data analysis, descriptive and content analyses were performed, especially based on the reasons for metaphors. In the descriptive analysis process, the data obtained is summarized and interpreted based on previously determined themes. While data can be organized according to the themes presented by research questions, it can also be presented by taking into account the questions or dimensions used in the interview and observation processes [36]. Content analysis is a scientific approach which enables to analyze verbal, written and other materials in an objective and systematic way [39].
Through content analysis, it is aimed to define the data and to reveal the facts hidden in the data [40]. In the content analysis, there are four stages consisting of processing and coding of qualitative research data obtained from documents, finding the themes, organizing the codes and themes, and identification and interpretation of the findings [36]. Accordingly, the categories/themes were determined by collecting the metaphors produced by students that covered close topics under the same title. In the study, seven themes were obtained: causes of migration, types of migration, means of migration, actions in migration, meaning of migration, migrating living beings, and misconceptions. Furthermore, direct quotations were provided to reflect the views of the individuals, who were interviewed within the context of each theme, strikingly in accordance with the nature of the descriptive analysis.

The Validity and Reliability of the Study
In scientific research, it is necessary to take some additional measures to create a holistic view on the fact investigated [36]. The detailed description and reporting of the data collection process by the researcher is one of the important criteria of validity in a qualitative study. This process was described in detail above, and an attempt to ensure the credibility (internal validity) of the study was made. A detailed description was made to ensure transferability (external validity), and the examples of discourses on the themes related to data were presented. Within the context of the consistency (reliability) analysis of the study, the reason codes of metaphors were also examined by a different expert, and a third expert was consulted on controversial codes. Furthermore, the formula of Reliability = Consensus/(Consensus + Dissension)x100 proposed by Miles and Huberman [41] was applied for the reliability of the analyses performed. A high ratio of 83% was obtained after the calculation. This ratio obtained shows that the reliability of data analysis was ensured.
In the data analysis, the number of students was taken as the frequency, and "f" refers to the frequency of the codes. 6S1 or 7S3 are the codes given to students. For example, 6S1 represents the first-ranked student from the sixth grade, and 7S3 represents the third-ranked student from the seventh grade.

Results
In this study which was carried out to determine secondary school students' perceptions of the concept of migration through metaphors, the themes of (1) "Basic Meaning of Migration", (2) "Migrating Living Beings", (3) "Types of Migration", (4) "Causes of Migration", (5) "Actions in Migration" (6) "Means of Migration," and (7) "Misconceptions" were obtained in the coding performed based on the reasons for likening. The results related to these themes are presented below. When Table 2 is examined, it is observed that students mostly reflected the "basic meaning of migration" (24.6%) and "migrating living beings" (21.2%) in their metaphors. On the other hand, students also included the issues such as types of migration (16.1%), causes of migration (16.1%), actions in migration (10.8%), means of migration (7.7%), and misconceptions (3.4%) in their metaphors. When a comparison was made between the grades, the most notable issue was an increase in the themes of the "basic meaning of migration" (19.6%-36.3%-44.1%), "migrating living beings" (29.5%-33.0%-37.5%), "types of migration" (28.4%-35.8%-35.8%), and "causes of migration" (22.4%-28.3%-49.3%) from the 6 th grade to the 8 th grade. The reason for this may be the fact that the subject of migration is taught in the seventh grade. The least developedmetaphors were the themes of "means of migration" (7.7%) and "misconceptions" (3.4%). Below, each theme is presented in detail based on students' reasons.

"Basic Meaning of Migration" Theme
When the common features of metaphors in this theme and the likening aspects were considered, it was determined that secondary school students attempted to explain the phenomenon of migration by attributing various meanings to migration in their metaphors. A total of 102 opinions were mentioned in the context of this theme. These opinions are presented in Table 3.

"Migrating Living Beings" Theme
In this theme, secondary school students participating in the study attempted to explain the concept of migration by associating it with "migrating living beings." A total of 88 opinions were mentioned in the context of this theme. These opinions are presented in Table 5. When Table 5 is examined, it is observed that 87.5% of the students emphasized some migrating animals in their metaphors. Students mentioned migrating living beings as a bird (36.4%), human (29.6%), stork (19.3%), antelope (1.1%), and fish. 12.5% of the students were observed to have wrong perceptions in this regard. Students with wrong perceptions mentioned the migration of camel (4.5%), ant (3.4%), lion (2.3%), rabbit (1.1%), and horse (1.1%) in their metaphors. When a comparison was made between the grades, while 7 th -grade students mostly emphasized the migration of birds (18.8% -46.9% and 34.3%) in their metaphors, 8 th -grade students mentioned it in the second rank, and 6 th -grade students mentioned it in the last rank in their metaphors. It can be said that there was a decrease in human (19.2% -26.9% -53.9%) species from the 6 th grade to the 8 th grade and in stork (41.2% -35.3% -23.5%) species from the 6 th grade to the 8 th grade. On the other hand, antelope (100.0%) and fish (100.0%) species were mentioned only by 6th-grade students. The statements of some students regarding the issue are presented below ( Table 6): I liken it to an ant because they eat little crumbs on the ground, and if they don't find food in the place where they go, they go to other places to find food.

"Types of Migration" Theme
As it is known, there are types of migration such as seasonal and continuous migration according to the duration of migration, forced and voluntary migration according to the causes of migration, and internal migration and external migration according to distance. Students participating in the study mentioned statements for the types of migration with the metaphors they developed. A total of 67 opinions were mentioned in the context of this theme. These opinions are presented in Table 7.
Upon examining Table 7, it can be observed that students mentioned 5 types of migration including seasonal migration (62.7%), forced migration (25.3%), continuous migration (6.0%), voluntary migration (3.0%), and brain drain (3.0%). As it is seen in the table, students mostly emphasized seasonal migration (62.7%). When a comparison was made between the grades, it was observed that there was a decrease in the seasonal migration (38.1%-33.3%-28.6%) type from the 6 th grade to the 8 th grade. On the other hand, it can be said that there was an increase in forced migration (23.5%-23.5%-53.0%) from the 6 th grade to the 8 th grade. Moreover, it was determined that 6 th -grade students did not mention continuous migration and brain drain and that 8 th -grade students did not mention voluntary migration. Only 7 th -grade students mentioned statements for 5 different types of migration shown in the table. The reason for this may be the presence of acquisition for migration in the 7 th -grade curriculum. The statements of some students regarding the issue are presented below (Table 8) I liken it to a stork because the stork migrates from cold to warm places. We can liken a stork to seasonal migration. Seasonal migration takes places at certain times of the year. Therefore, storks also migrate at certain times of the year. 7S21 2 I liken it to a human because people go to other places to find a job. 8 8S23 2 I liken it to a human because I see that people also migrate because of living conditions. 8S27 5 I liken it to brain drain because a scientist lives in Istanbul but migrates to America. Then there is brain drain in Istanbul.

"Causes of Migration" Theme
As it is known, present conditions and needs cause migration. People have migrated for various reasons since the first periods of history. The main causes of migration can be listed as natural, social, economic, and political reasons. The students participating in the study also mentioned the statements about the causes of migration through the metaphors they developed. A total of 67 opinions were mentioned in the context of this theme. These opinions are presented in Table 9.
According to the table, the students focused on the "seasonal change (47.8%), obligation (25.4%), requirement (16.4%), disturbance or provision of the order (4.5%), desire to explore (3.0%), trouble in the country (1.5%) and for having fun (%1.5)" causes of migration. As it is seen in the table, the students mostly emphasized the seasonal change cause of migration. When a comparison was made between the grades, it could be said that there was an increase in the seasonal change (12.5%-40.6%-46.9%) and obligation (23.5%-23.5%-53.0%) causes of migration from the 6 th grade to the 8 th grade. The main reason for this may be the presence of acquisition in the form of "Discusses the causes and consequences of migration through case studies" in the 7 th -grade Social Studies Curriculum. Moreover, it was determined that the causes of disturbance/provision of the order and trouble in the country were not mentioned by the 6 th and 7 th -grade students and that the causes of desire to explore and for having fun were not mentioned by the 7 th and 8 th -grade students. The statements of some students regarding the issue are presented below (Table 10):

"Actions in Migration" Theme
Secondary school students participating in the study attempted to explain the concept of migration in this theme by associating it with the actions in migration. A total of 45 opinions were mentioned in the context of this theme. These opinions are presented in Table 11.
According to Table 11, students mentioned issues such as carrying (40.0%), continuity (28.9%), transportation (20.0%), transporting (6.7%), not standing anywhere (2.2%), and achieving the goal (2.2%) for the actions in migration. As it is seen in the table, students mostly emphasized the "carrying" action in migration. When a comparison was made between the grades, it could be said that there was an increase in transportation (22.2%-33.3%-66.6%) among the actions in migration from the 6 th grade to the 8 th grade. On the other hand, it is observed that there was a decrease in the transporting (66.6%-33.3%) action from the 6 th grade to the 8 th grade. Moreover, it was determined that the actions of not standing anywhere and achieving the goal were not mentioned by 6 th -grade students and that the actions of transporting and not standing anywhere were not mentioned by 8 th -grade students. The statements of some students regarding the issue are presented below (Table  12): I liken it to a plane because they go from place to place. 8S20 6 I liken it to clouds because people rush around to do their work in daily life, like clouds. I mean everyone has a purpose and a task.

"Means of Migration" Theme
Secondary school students participating in the study attempted to explain the concept of migration in this theme by associating it with the concept of means of migration. A total of 32 opinions were mentioned in the context of this theme. These opinions are presented in Table 13.
According to Table 13, students mentioned the means such as car (31.3%), camel (18.8%), plane (15.6%), ship (9.4%), horse (9.4%), caravan (6.2%), bicycle (3.1%), donkey (3.1%), and box (4.3%) for the means of migration. As it is seen in the table, students mostly emphasized "car" as a means of migration. When a comparison is made between the grades, it can be said that there was an increase in the type of plane (20.0%-20.0%-60.0%) among the means of migration from the 6 th grade to the 8 th grade. On the other hand, it is observed that there was a decrease in the means such as camel (66.7%-16.7%-16.7%) and ship (66.6%-33.3%-0%) from the 6 th grade to the 8 th grade. The reason why the 6th-grade students mostly mentioned the use of camels during migration may be the documentaries they watched. Moreover, it was determined that horse, bicycle, donkey, and box were not mentioned by 7 th and 8 th -grade students, ship was not mentioned by 8 th -grade students, and caravan was not mentioned by 6 th -grade students. The statements of some students regarding the issue are presented below (Table 14).

"Misconception" Theme
As a result of the analyses performed within the context of this theme, it was observed that some students confused migration with communication and contact in their justification although they made analogies for migration. On the other hand, it was determined that they had the misconception that some non-migrating animals migrate. A total of 14 opinions were mentioned in the context of this theme. These opinions are presented in Table 15.
When Table 15 was examined, it was observed that students had misconceptions in cases such as animal migration (78.6%), communication (14.3%), and contact (7.1%) related to migration in their metaphors. When a comparison was made between the grades, it was observed that 6 th -grade students mostly had misconceptions by 57.1%. 7 th -grade students had the least misconceptions by 7.2%. The statements of some students regarding the issue are presented below (Table 16).  I liken it to ants because they build their nests near the tree, but we people break their nests or step on ants, so they migrate to other places. 8S25 2 I liken it to a pen because the pen goes everywhere and writes all kinds of writings, sometimes you give it to someone else, and she/he also gives it to another person.

8S29
1 I liken it to camels because they migrate due to cold weather.

Conclusions and Discussion
This study was carried out to reveal secondary school students' perceptions of the concept of "migration" through metaphors and to collect these metaphors under certain themes. In the study, it was determined that secondary school students expressed opinions within the context of the "Basic Meaning of Migration" (24.6%), "Migrating Living Beings" (21.2%), "Types of Migration" (16.1%), "Causes of Migration" (16.1%), "Actions in Migration" (10.8%), "Means of Migration" (7.7%), and "Misconceptions" (3.4%) themes in their metaphors for the concept of "migration". Each theme is important in terms of bringing different aspects of the concept of migration to the forefront. Although secondary school students mostly tended towards the "basic meaning of migration" in their metaphors, it was determined that they had some misconceptions, and they were discussed in the "misconceptions" theme.
It was observed that the majority of secondary school students expressed the concept of "migration" under the "Basic Meaning of Migration" theme. Migration is a temporary or permanent displacement of individuals or social clusters [5,8,11,42]. According to Erder (1986), migration is defined as "all displacements that take place within a period of time to create a meaningful distance and effect" and is emphasized to be a highly dynamic and multi-directional movement [3]. In this study, students used migration in the meanings of displacement (52.0%), carrying (17.6%), moving (6.7%), means (5.9%), freedom (4.9%), metaphorical meaning (3.9%), movement (2.9%), performed in group (%2.0), lifestyle (2.0%), traveling (1.0%), and cycle (1.0%). In this case, it can be said that students attributed correct meanings to migration. When the metaphors within the "Basic Meaning of Migration" theme were analyzed on a grade basis, it was determined that more metaphors were produced for the concept of migration from the sixth to the eighth grade (16.6%-36.3%-44.1%). Due to the presence of the acquisition in the form of "Discusses the causes and consequences of migration through case studies" in the MEB [Ministry of National Education] seventh grade Social Studies Curriculum, students studying at this and higher grades may have produced more opinions in this direction [43]. Furthermore, it was determined that students confused migration with the concepts of communication and contact within the context of this theme.
According to the research findings, the theme "Migrating Living Beings" was the second theme with the highest number of metaphors. In their statements under this theme, students mostly mentioned migrating living beings, bird (36.4%), and human (29.6%) because Turkey is on the main migration routes in the northern hemisphere with respect to bird migration [44,45]. Kılınç, Karayel and Koyuncu (2018) similarly found out that Turkish students developed the metaphor of bird (stork) for the concept of migration [46]. This may be the reason why students expressed opinions on this subject although bird migration is not included in the curriculum. On the other hand, when the metaphors within the "Basic Meaning of Migration" theme were analyzed on a grade basis, it was determined that more metaphors were produced for the concept of migration from the sixth to the eighth grade (29.5%-33.0%-37.5%). The reason for this may be the inclusion of "migration" in the social studies curriculum from the 7 th grade. Within the context of this theme, it was determined that students mostly had the misconception that some non-migrating animals migrate.
Another theme that emerged according to the research findings was the "Types of Migration" theme. In their statements under this theme, students mostly mentioned the type of seasonal migration (62.7%). When the metaphors within the "Types of Migration" theme were analyzed on a grade basis, it was determined that more metaphors were produced for the concept of migration from the sixth to the eighth grade (31.3%-32.8%-35.8%). When migrations are ranked in terms of scope, content, and quality, while seasonal migrations, continuous-temporary migrations, forced-voluntary migrations and labor migration constitute internal migration, worker migration, brain drain, exchange migration, political and socio-economic migrations constitute external migration [47]. When the metaphors produced by students and their reasons were analyzed, it was observed that they mentioned other types of migration, except for the exchange migration. The reason may be the fact that the subject of migration is directly and indirectly included in the secondary school curriculum, but the subject of exchange migration is addressed superficially. However, the subject of "population exchange" is included in the content of the eighth grade R.T. Revolution History and Kemalism course [48].
Another theme that emerged in the coding according to students' reasons was the "Causes of Migration" theme. Although the phenomenon of migration may be caused by social, economic and political reasons, migration itself may also be the cause of some social, economic, and political developments or a factor that accelerates these developments. Therefore, migration has been included in the areas of interest of various disciplines from sociology to geography, from history to economics, and each discipline has considered it from its own perspective [3,6,8,10,11,49]. In their statements under this theme, students mostly mentioned the seasonal change (47.8%) cause of migration. When the metaphors within the "Causes of Migration" theme were analyzed on a grade basis, it was determined that more metaphors were produced for the concept of migration from the sixth to the eighth grade (22.4%-28.3%-49.3%). When students' answers were examined, it was observed that the vast majority of students indicated the cause of migration through negative metaphors. They stated that migration is not an amusing situation but the movement of living beings to a different country, region or city by leaving their homes and places where they live since they have to leave. A small number of students associated migration with an entertaining and pleasing job, seeing new places, and going somewhere to explore new places. It can be said that students' different definitions of the concept of migration and the positive or negative events that they experienced or witnessed with regard to migration significantly affected their perspectives on this issue.
Another theme that emerged in the coding according to students' reasons for likening is the "Means of Migration" theme. In their statements under this theme, students mostly emphasized the car (31.3%). When the metaphors within the "Means of Migration" theme were analyzed on a grade basis, it was determined that fewer metaphors were produced for the concept of migration from the sixth to the eighth grade (40.9%-36.4%-22.7%).
While one of the important study areas of social sciences is the issue of migration, migration, which takes an important place in the life of Turkish society, has been ignored for many years. However, Anatolian history is a history of migrations in a sense [50]. Moreover, there has been an intense wave of migration from Syria to Turkey in recent years [51]. Nevertheless, no finding was obtained regarding this issue in the metaphors of the students participating in the study with regard to the concept of migration. Furthermore, it was observed that they did not mention the consequences of migration in their metaphors. These results are a natural consequence of the fact that Syrian migrants are mainly addressed using the concepts of 'refugee' and 'asylum-seeker' by the Turkish media [52]. In their study, Tümeğ [53] and Özdemir [54] clearly revealed that that the media is one of the most important sources that shape the perception of a Syrian refugee. Therefore, students at the primary education level perceive the Syrians in Turkey as refugees and asylum seekers, not as migrants.
In conclusion, metaphors can be used as a powerful learning tool for understanding, revealing and explaining students' perceptions of migration. Furthermore, it can be said that the use of different and interesting methods such as sample stories, role-playing, case study and drama related to migration by the teacher during the lessons will be useful for children to understand the concept of migration better.
New metaphorical studies on the phenomenon of migration will certainly be carried out. It is important that these studies are carried out comparatively through different grade and age levels. Furthermore, different qualitative techniques can also be used in new metaphorical studies. Moreover, metaphorical studies can also be carried out for concepts such as refugeehood and asylum that are often confused with the concept of migration. All these new studies will be quite effective in revealing children's mental perceptions of the concepts of migration, refugee, and asylum that are often confused by them and in finding solutions to the problem of why they are confused.