Supporting Science Teachers’ Nature of Science Understandings Through a Specially Developed Philosophy of Science Course

2020 ◽  
pp. 641-658
Author(s):  
Kostas Kampourakis
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Nature Of Science ◽  
Science Teachers

The Views of Nature of Science Expressed by In-Service Teachers Who were Learning History and Philosophy of Science

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 39-48
Author(s):  
Young Mudavanhu ◽  
Nicholas Zezekwa
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Nature Of Science ◽  
Science Teachers ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Case Study Methodology ◽  
Pedagogical Content ◽  
Bachelor Of Science ◽  
Learning History ◽  
Adequate Understanding

AbstractScience teachers need an adequate understanding of the nature and processes of science as the basis for their pedagogical content knowledge for effective classroom delivery. The aim of the study was to find out in-service teachers’ views on the nature of science (NOS) and how their views compared with informed understanding of the NOS. The study adopted an exploratory case study methodology, qualitative in nature, and used convenience sampling. A questionnaire was administered to 50 in-service teachers doing a bachelor of science honours degree at a selected university in Zimbabwe. The students had done a course in history and philosophy of science where there were exposed to some topics on the NOS. Frequency counts and mean scores were used to describe views of the participants. Analysis involved comparing in-service teachers’ responses with experts’ views. The findings reveal that the students had a naïve understanding of NOS in 5 out of 16 statements from the administered questionnaire. Despite these observations the participants generally had a fair understanding of the NOS as evidenced by the fact that the participants managed to correctly respond to 69% of the questions asked. As such we infer that teaching and learning of nature of science as part of history and philosophy of science had a positive impact on in-service teachers’ views. The few instances when participants’ responses revealed contradictions, suggest that teaching and learning history and philosophy of science may not be adequate to develop a full understanding of nature of science. Further research is recommended with large samples, using a revised Views Of Nature of Science (VNOS) questionnaire and interviews, and document analysis to reveal how nature of science is taught and learnt.

scholarly journals Prospective primary teachers’ views on the nature of science

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 403
Author(s):  
Rafael Amador-Rodríguez ◽  
Agustín Adúriz-Bravo ◽  
Jorge Alberto Valencia Cobo ◽  
Roberto Reinoso Tapia ◽  
Jaime Delgado Iglesias
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Nature Of Science ◽  
Science Teachers ◽  
Prospective Teachers ◽  
Primary Teachers ◽  
Logical Positivism ◽  
Undergraduate Teaching ◽  
Epistemological Views ◽  
Prospective Primary Teachers

This article presents the results of a piece of research that analyzed the views on the nature of science (NOS) among student teachers enrolled in programs of Primary Education at two public universities in Spain. Previous studies have reported that science teachers maintain ‘eclectic’ epistemological perspectives on science; in this article, we test if such a hypothesis holds when teachers’ NOS ideas are ‘anchored’ in specific periods and topics of the philosophy of science. We studied 114 prospective teachers attending an undergraduate teaching course with emphasis on the natural sciences at the Universities of Burgos and Valladolid in the period of 2017-18. A Likert-scale questionnaire with 50 items was applied to determine trends in those teachers’ epistemological views on science. The results showed that teachers’ views are mostly correlated with the philosophical period of Logical Positivism/Received View, and to some extent to the period of Recent and Contemporary Accounts. Regarding the classical epistemological topics of correspondence, methodologies, intervention, evolution and representation, teachers’ views could be related to the period of Logical Positivism/Received View and Critical Rationalism, but also to the New Philosophy of Science. The main conclusion of this study is that teachers’ expressed views on NOS are epistemologically eclectic to a much smaller degree when examined with more detail concerning specific periods and topics of the philosophy of science.

scholarly journals A Study on Demonstration of the Nature of Science in Science Textbooks: History and Philosophy of Science Perspectives

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. Ayık ◽  
B. Coştu
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Nature Of Science ◽  
Science Teachers ◽  
Service Science ◽  
Science Content ◽  
Science Textbooks ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Positive Effect

Many scholars in the teaching of science put forth that the perennial target of science education is to teach the nature of science (NOS), and science textbooks play a crucial role in the teaching of the nature of science (NOS). Understanding the nature of science is said to be effective when both understanding science concepts and doing science. Numerous studies focus on the teaching of NOS. This study investigates the effect of a science content that is prepared in history and philosophy of science (HPS) perspective on the NOSunderstandings of pre-service science teachers. 34 sophomore pre-service science teachers participated in the study. The quasi-experimental method was used by employing a pre-test, an intervention, and a post-test which is the same as the pre-test. The intervention involved the presentation of science content from the HPS perspective in six weeks long of discussions. Data were collected through a survey that revealed categorical views regarding the characteristics of the NOS. The results showed that the demonstration of atom theories in the HPS perspective gave a positive effect on the pre-service science teachers in understanding the NOS.

Beliefs of preschool teacher candidates about the nature of science

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 774-783
Author(s):  
Güzin Özyılmaz ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
Nature Of Science ◽  
Science Teachers ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Preschool Education ◽  
Preschool Teacher ◽  
Spring Semester ◽  
Teachers Beliefs ◽  
Aim Of Science ◽  
Academic Year

The aim of science education is to enable children to become “science-literate.” Science literacy is defined as taking responsibility for and making decisions about situations requiring scientific understanding and having sufficient knowledge, skills, attitudes and understanding of values to put their decisions into practice. Revealing teachers’ beliefs can help to understand the types of experiences presented by teachers in their classrooms. Inadequate understandings and misbeliefs of teachers shape the first perceptions of children about the NOS when they are formally introduced with science education in their early childhood. Most of the studies were also performed with science teachers and there have been few studies conducted with preschool teachers. Therefore, the present study was directed towards determining NOS beliefs of preschool teacher candidates. To achieve this aim, Nature of Science Beliefs Scale (NOSBS), developed by Özcan and Turgut (2014), was administered to the preschool teacher candidates studying in Preschool Education Department of Buca Education Faculty at Dokuz Eylül University in the spring semester of the 2018-2019 academic year. In the study, the NOS beliefs of the teacher candidates were found to be acceptable in general. While the findings of this study are consistent with those revealed in several relevant studies in the literature

Exploring Pre-service Science Teachers’ Perspectives on the Nature of Science: A Comparative Study Between China and Canada

2021 ◽  
pp. 209653112096678
Author(s):  
Guihua Zhang ◽  
Yuanrong Li ◽  
George Zhou ◽  
Sonia Wai-Ying Ho
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Science Education ◽  
Science Teacher ◽  
Nature Of Science ◽  
Science Teachers ◽  
Scientific Literacy ◽  
Survey Design ◽  
Science Teacher Education ◽  
Teaching Behaviors ◽  
Preservice Science Teachers

Purpose: The Nature of Science (NOS) is an important component of scientific literacy. Science teachers’ Views of the Nature of Science (VNOS) directly affect their teaching behaviors. Therefore, it is of great significance to explore science teachers’ VNOS and find ways of improvement. This study was designed to comparatively investigate preservice science teachers’ VNOS between China and Canada. Design/Approach/Methods: The study employed a survey design to explore how Chinese and Canadian preservice science teachers understood the seven different aspects of NOS. Findings: Data showed that preservice science teachers in China and Canada both hold a modern view about science education. The level of Chinese and Canadian participants’ understanding of NOS was above the relatively naive level. Chinese teachers had better macro-understanding toward science education but their micro-mastery was insufficient. While the Canadian participants had a better understanding of the NOS than their Chinese counterparts. Originality/Value: Based on the research results and the experience of science education and teacher education in Canada, we suggested that there is a need to reconstruct the preservice science teacher education curriculum in China and promote the transformation in the science teacher educational system.

scholarly journals A CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY ON FRESHMEN’S KNOWLEDGE OF GENETICS, EVOLUTION, AND THE NATURE OF SCIENCE

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-18
Author(s):  
Andrej Šorgo ◽  
Muhammet Usak ◽  
Milan Kubiatko ◽  
Jana Fančovičova ◽  
Pavol Prokop ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nature Of Science ◽  
Science Teachers ◽  
Human Evolution ◽  
Scientific Reasoning ◽  
Darwinian Evolution ◽  
First Year ◽  
Scientific Explanations ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Level Of Knowledge ◽  
First Year University

The purpose of this study was to measure the freshmen’s level of knowledge about genetics, evolution, human evolution, the nature of science, and opinions on evolution and the presence of non-scientific explanations among Czech, Slovakian, Slovenian and Turkish students. Determination of prior knowledge and pre-conceptions about these issues is important because they are filters to learning other related concepts. The results are going to be a starting point for developing teaching strategies concerning Darwinian evolution and preparing prospective science teachers for working with students in national and international contexts. A total of 994 first-year university students from the Czech Republic (276; 27.8%), Slovakia (212, 21.3%), Slovenia (217, 27.3%) and Turkey (235, 23.6%) participated in this study. The findings can be summarized as follows: knowledge especially that of the nature of science at the freshmen level was seriously flawed. Non-scientific explanations were present in high percentages. Both were regarded as barriers towards scientific reasoning and acceptance of general human evolution especially for students expressing orthodox religious beliefs. Key words: evolution, genetics, human evolution, nature of science, non-scientific explanations.

scholarly journals DO LABORATORY ACTIVITIES CONTRIBUTE TO A CONTEMPORARY CONCEPTION OF SCIENCE IN INITIAL TEACHER TRAINING?

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (32) ◽  
pp. 983-995
Author(s):  
K. VALENCIA ◽  
V. SANJOSÉ ◽  
T. TORRES
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Training ◽  
Nature Of Science ◽  
Science Teachers ◽  
Scientific Work ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Service Science ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Laboratory Activities ◽  
Science Teacher Training ◽  
Undergraduate Programs

In this study, It was analyzed the implementation of laboratory activities in the pre-service science teacher’s training and how they contribute to the construction of a contemporary epistemic vision of the nature of science. A cross-sectional study was developed in two different undergraduate programs of pre-service science teacher training in a university in Colombia of. We analyzed the way laboratory activities are developed in nine science subjects of physics, chemistry, and biology, apart from the first to the eight semesters of the curriculum (10 semesters in total). Results indicate that the laboratory activities focused on the development of pre-defined techniques and procedures, giving little prominence to creativity, doubt, discussion, planning, and application, even though they are also characteristic activities of scientific work. This kind of laboratory activities does not seem to favor th e construction of a contemporary conception of the nature of science in future science teachers.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document