A science faculty's transformation of nature of science understanding into his teaching graduate level chemistry course

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sevgi Aydin

This is an interpretive case study to examine the teaching of an experienced science faculty who had a strong interest in teaching undergraduate and graduate science courses and nature of science specifically. It was interested in how he transformed knowledge from his experience as a scientist and his ideas about nature of science into forms accessible to his students. Data included observations (through the 12-week semester) and field notes, Views of Nature of Science-Form B, as well as semi-structured interview. Deductive analysis based on existing codes and categories was applied. Results revealed that robust SMK and interest in nature of science helped him address the different nature of science aspects, and produce original content-embedded examples for teaching nature of science. Although he was able to include nature of science as a part of a graduate course and to address nature of science myths that graduate students had, nature of science assessment was missing in his teaching. When subject matter knowledge and nature of science understanding support each other, it may be a key element in successful nature of science learning and teaching. Similar to science teachers, the development of assessment of nature of science may take more time than the development of other components of instruction (i.e., instructional strategy) for science faculties. Hence, this result may be an indication of the specific need for support to develop this component of teaching.

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-83
Author(s):  
Tufan Inaltekin

The aim of this research is to examine the perceptions of technology-based learning and teaching in the science courses of secondary school students. This research sample is made up of 396 students studying in the eighth grade of seven secondary schools in the center of Kars, Turkey. This research includes a case study design. As a data collection tool, an important technical drawing is used in the literature of science education to reveal the mental approaches of individuals against facts and events. Data are analysed through drawing analysis. This research reveals three key conclusions. First, it is understood that the perception of students in the eighth grade of secondary schools for the use of technology in existing science courses is largely composed of smart boards. Second, it is understood that the technological systems that students demand in science courses should be designed specifically in a way that they can use independently. Third, it has shown that smart boards among the technological systems are largely in the grip of science teachers, but students are not able to use these technological systems adequately in the courses. Keywords: Science courses, secondary school students, technology-based teaching, drawing analysis.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-258
Author(s):  
Ulas Kubat

The aim of this research is to examine the adequacy of tools and teaching materials as well as physical and technological conditions in science classes according to the views of science teachers. To this end, qualitative research methods are designed according to phenomenological design. The sample of the research consists of 16 science teachers working in the academic year of 2017–2018 in Mugla province. Semi-structured interview techniques were used to analyze the collected data using descriptive analysis. According to research findings, most of the interviewed teachers stated that class size is appropriate. Teachers have emphasized that there are deficiencies in physical and technological conditions. Especially in some schools, it has been discovered that there are no labs, computers or Internet and interactive whiteboards. It was also determined that the teachers had classroom arrangement as a conventional fixed row arrangement for desks. There is little place in the learning-teaching process for posters, banners, and models. Keywords: Science, physical and technological conditions, tools.


2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 366-378
Author(s):  
Ayşe Nesibe Köklükaya

Science teaching emerged due to an attempt to understand the world around us and a sense of wonder at nature and survived until today by means of being supported by new research and findings. The implementation of science in schools is carried out with curriculums. The main purpose of the curriculum of science courses is to train all students in science literacy regardless of their individual differences. According to the educational program of sciences courses, audiovisual aids used in education with a learning objective which is one of these aids is one of the most effective ways to ensure permanent learning. Within this concept the purpose of the study is to determine the opinions of pre-service science teachers about the curriculum of the science lesson based upon the stories in the 3-Idiots movie. In this research, phenomenology research was used. As a data gathering tool, three semi-structured interview questions prepared accordingly to “3- Idiots” movie were used. According to the participants, the science curriculum must be lead in investigating, interrogating, criticising, curiosity and reconnoitering in terms of features that must be acquired for being scientifically literate individuals. Key words: Pre-service science teachers’ perceptions, science, science curriculum, 3-idiots movie.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 282-291
Author(s):  
R. Safkolam ◽  
P. Khumwong ◽  
C. Pruekpramool ◽  
A. Hajisamoh

Societies and cultures influence students' understandings of the nature of science (NOS). An approach to promote an accurate understanding of the nature of science is to manage the learning based on students' contexts through the integration of their social, cultural, and religious stories. Hence, this study investigated the pedagogical effects of Islamic scientist history on seventh graders' understandings of the nature of science in an Islamic private school, Yala Province, Thailand. Through a mixed-methods convergent design, data were collected from 30 seventh graders in an Islamic private school of Yala who were selected through a convenience sampling. The instruments were 1) a NOS questionnaire and 2) a semi-structured interview on the understanding of the nature of science. The quantitative data were statistically analyzed using mean, standard deviation, and a dependent t-test. The qualitative data were analyzed through content analysis and categorized into three groups based on the views of the nature of science: informed views (IV), transitional views (TV), and naive views (NV). Results revealed that the students who learned from the history of Islamic scientists had gained higher mean scores on the understanding of the nature of science at the .05 significance level and transformed their views from transitional (TV) and naive (NV) to informed (IV) in every aspect of the nature of science. This can be summarized that applying the history of Islamic scientists with the explicit reflective NOS teaching is practical in Islamic private school. To make this change happen in the unique school context, science teachers must devote time to analyzing the NOS hidden in the history of Islamic scientists. In addition, another Islamic context, such as local Islamic wisdom, could also promote the understanding of the NOS for students in private Islamic schools.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 97-107
Author(s):  
Hakan Şevki Ayvacı ◽  
Dilek Özbek

Understanding the nature of science, one of the most important dimensions of scientific literacy, is regarded as an absolute necessity in science education. To teach students the nature of science, science teachers should emphasize the nature of science in the classrooms. This is possible through the training of science teachers with knowledge of the nature of science. In this study, documentary films were used to teach preservice science teachers about the nature of science. This study aims to investigate the effect of nature of science course conducted with documentary films on preservice science teachers’ views of nature of science. The study, in which the experimental design was used, was conducted with 30 preservice teachers in nature of science and history of science courses. Throughout the courses, documentary films were watched, and nature of science aspects of the documentary films was discussed. The Views of Nature of Science Questionnaire (VNOS-C) was used as pre-test and post-test, and the data were analyzed with SPSS. As a conclusion, preservice science teachers’ views regarding the nature of science were enhanced after the implementation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 774-783
Author(s):  
Güzin Özyılmaz ◽  

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


2021 ◽  
pp. 209653112096678
Author(s):  
Guihua Zhang ◽  
Yuanrong Li ◽  
George Zhou ◽  
Sonia Wai-Ying Ho

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.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 148
Author(s):  
Xiaoshan Z. Gordy ◽  
Wesley Sparkmon ◽  
Hyllore Imeri ◽  
Andrew Notebaert ◽  
Marie Barnard ◽  
...  

The national or local lockdowns in response to COVID-19 forced education systems to rapidly shift from in-person to distance learning. The hasty transition undoubtedly imposed tremendous challenges on teachers, students and distance learning infrastructure. The purpose of this study was to investigate how high school science teachers who had previously been trained in flipped-learning and advanced educational technology through the Science Teaching Excites Medical Interest (STEMI) program perceived their transition to distance learning during this pandemic. In this study eleven teachers were interviewed with a semi-structured interview guide. Data were analyzed using the deductive-inductive content analytic approach. Our results indicated that teachers reported having more confidence in using technology for teaching online due in part to their participation in the STEMI program. They also reported internet access as one of the most significant barriers, both for students and teachers. While some teachers thought that students may feel more in control of learning due to absence of time and place limits with distance learning, others may struggle to stay engaged without the classroom support they would normally have received. Teachers generally experienced increased workloads and harder work–life balance with online teaching. In spite of the unforeseen challenges, the pandemic situation afforded teachers with opportunities to adopt different technology in teaching and foresee the need for technology integration in order to better prepare for the unexpected in the future.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 5459
Author(s):  
Diana Soares ◽  
Betina Lopes ◽  
Isabel Abrantes ◽  
Mike Watts

This study presents a systematic literature review (SLR) on the initial training of science teachers in Africa based on selected research articles, in the period 2000–2020, that emphasize the importance of surveying knowledge that goes beyond those that historically have a longer path in the building of scientific knowledge, such as that of European or North American countries. The analysis included a total of 31 articles from the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases. The findings indicate a lack of knowledge, or at least visibility, considering the initial training of African teachers, particularly in developing countries. South Africa leads the number of publications. Within the five African countries implied in the SLR the following outputs were identified: (i) a division between teacher education research that is ‘place-based’ and one that uses (only) ‘universal theories’ (such as Vygotsky and Bandura); (ii) a tension between the application of student-centered learning and teaching models and more traditional classroom practices. Finally, the majority of articles highlight the importance of investing in further research around teacher education. Based on these outputs the importance of international cooperation in teacher education research articulating theory and practice to ensure a global and local perspective towards sustainable development is reinforced.


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