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Abstract
The aim of this study was to examine the cognitive structures of pre-service social studies teachers regarding the concepts of human rights and democracy. For this purpose, a word association test was applied. In the test, the participants were asked to express their views on human rights and democracy concepts. A total of 94 pre-service teachers participated in the study based on voluntary participation and criterion sampling. The study was conducted during the spring semester of the 2019-2020 academic year, while the COVID-19 pandemic was ongoing. To reach the participants, the university's remote learning platform was used, and word association tests were administered. The data were analyzed by two researchers. It was found that the participants produced 69 sentences containing scientific knowledge related to the concept of democracy and 73 sentences related to the concept of human rights. Furthermore, it was observed that the participants placed a strong emphasis on the words "equality" and "freedom" in relation to both human rights and democracy. It was also determined that the participants generated more sentences with conceptual misconceptions regarding the concept of democracy.