scholarly journals THE DEVELOPMENT AND PILOTING OF AN INSTRUMENT TO MEASURE NATURE OF SCIENCE (NOS) UNDERSTANDING

Author(s):  
Tarisai Chanetsa ◽  
◽  
Umesh Ramnarain

The study describes the development of an instrument, to measure NOS understandings of science teachers and a subsequent pilot study to test the instrument. The pilot measured NOS understanding of two teachers using a questionnaire that had been developed by the researcher. The objective of the study was to construct a questionnaire that could measure NOS understanding based on the family resemblance approach (FRA). The NOS is a construct that has been defined by various scholars and there exists multiple perspectives. For this study, two schools of thought defining the nature of science: the consensus view (CV) and the reconceptualized family resemblance approach to NOS (RFN) were considered. The CV has been widely accepted for years to represent the NOS through its tenets, and there exists reliable tools to document NOS. Based on the CV researchers developed an instrument, views of nature of science (VNOS), to document NOS understanding. In the past decade, scholars have challenged the CV of NOS and highlighted shortcomings in its tenets. FRA was developed that depicts science in a holistic system with dynamic interactions unlike the CV that represents NOS as independent tenets. From FRA, emerged RFN consisting of social and cultural categories that affect how science is done. The approach of RFN due to its holistic approach will be preferred in this study. The authors of RFN developed a RFN questionnaire to assess views about NOS using a Likert scale. Due to the limitations of the Likert scale, an open-ended approach is preferred in the qualitative analysis of views of NOS as is found in the VNOS form. To collect data on NOS understanding, the researcher compared VNOS and the RFN questionnaire and developed an integrated family VNOS (IFVNOS) questionnaire. The IFVNOS questionnaire was administered in a pilot test followed by interviews to elaborate on responses. The responses were analysed by two coders and triangulated to ensure reliability. The responses were allocated codes to document NOS understanding, on a range from naïve to explicit understanding. The findings revealed that the IFVNOS questionnaire developed can be used as a tool to measure NOS understanding and more testing is required to assess reliability.

Author(s):  
Jen-Yi Wu ◽  
Sibel Erduran

Abstract In this paper, we use the “Family Resemblance Approach” (FRA) as a framework to characterize how scientists view the nature of science (NOS). FRA presents NOS as a “system” that includes clusters or categories of ideas about the cognitive-epistemic and social-institutional aspects of science. For example, the cognitive-epistemic aspects include aims and values such as objectivity and scientific methods such as hypothesis testing. Social-institutional aspects refer to a range of components including social values such as honesty about evidence and institutional contexts of science such as research institutions. Characterized as such, NOS is thus a system of interacting components. The initial account of FRA was proposed by philosophers of science and subsequently adapted and extended for science education including through empirical studies. Yet, there is little understanding of the extent to which FRA coheres with scientists’ own depictions about NOS. Hence, an empirical study was conducted with scientists to investigate their views about FRA as well as their views of NOS using the FRA framework. In so doing, the research sought to explore the utility of FRA from scientists’ point of view. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of 17 Taiwanese scientists’ responses to a set of written questions indicates that scientists are in agreement with the FRA account of NOS, and they detail all aspects in their reference to NOS, although the social-institutional aspects are underrepresented in their depiction. Implications for further studies and science education are discussed.


2021 ◽  
pp. 194016122199409
Author(s):  
Olivier Standaert

This article describes and discusses how normative journalistic roles are formulated across Europe. The material was obtained from the 2012–2016 wave of the Worlds of Journalism Study, a comparative study designed to assess the state of journalism throughout the world. The advantage of this study over similar undertakings in the past is that we did not confront journalists with ready-made statements but invited them to tell us, in their own words, what they thought the major roles of journalists in their countries ought to be. Open responses of more than 10,200 journalists from twenty-seven European countries yielded 12,860 references. Results show that the most important roles refer to the domain of political life, especially the informational-instructive and the critical-monitorial functions—a finding that is consistent across the twenty-seven countries investigated. Beyond this shared global vision, it is, however, possible to point out some national specificities, keeping in mind that even if the core of the normative roles remains somewhat universal, a detailed comparison of those roles in their cultural context allows us to grasp some differences in their hierarchy and their meaning.


2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (3-5) ◽  
pp. 311-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sibel Erduran ◽  
Zoubeida R. Dagher ◽  
Christine V. McDonald

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rishi Kant Kumar ◽  
Amlendu Kumar Dubey

Purpose Family business has been widely discussed in the literature. Still, a holistic approach summarizing the family business concept in entrepreneurship is fragmented to date. This paper aims to explore the multimedia view of family business research in entrepreneurship and finds the key theme discussed by researchers. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, a systematic literature review on family business and its role in entrepreneurship have been conducted. The literature review consists of bibliometric and content analyzes. Bibliometric research offers quantitative insights, whereas content analysis provides the qualitative evaluation of the literature. Findings The findings suggest that recent research in this area focuses on exploring the role of women entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurship in the family business. The literature also finds that because of the nature of family businesses, successors get the opportunity to use their family’s network, social status, financing and opportunity toward a well-developed market. Research limitations/implications This paper may help researchers and practitioners to identify the past and current research trends related to family business and entrepreneurship. Originality/value The concepts from network theory are applied for content analysis to identify and explore various family business and entrepreneurship literature sub-domains.


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


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arpita Paul ◽  
Monami Rajiung ◽  
Kamaruz Zaman ◽  
Sushil Kumar Chaudhary ◽  
Hans Raj Bhat ◽  
...  

Background: Morus alba Linn. commonly known as white mulberry, belongs to the family Moraceae, is a promising traditional medicine. In Asia, besides its use in the preparation of delicacies, every part of this plant is utilized in traditional medicine. Over the past decade, studies related to identification and isolation of biologically active compounds, with flavonoids as the major class of phytoconstituents, from this plant has been reported. These phytoconstituents are not only found to be beneficial for the maintenance of general health but also are associated with a range of potential pharmacological activities such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, anticancer, hepatoprotective, cardioprotective, neuroprotective to name a few. Objective: This review aims to provide upgraded and comprehensive information regarding the phytochemical, ethnomedicinal use and pharmacological profile of the plant Morus alba Linn. Method: The significant information has been collected through various database viz. PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Science Direct based on the recent findings, using different terms of Morus alba. Results: The outcome of the study suggests that Morus alba is a multifunctional plant numerous phytochemicals, and possess a range of pharmacological activities. Conclusion: The data assembled on Morus alba will be beneficial to trigger research in various fields of pharmaceutical and allied science to explore the medicinal importance of this unique plant.


Author(s):  
Antonio Girolami ◽  
Diana Noemi Garcia de Paoletti ◽  
Marcelo Leonardo Nenkies ◽  
Silvia Ferrari ◽  
Hugo Guglielmone

Background: Investigation of rare bleeding disorders in Latin-America. Objective: The report of a new case of FX deficiency due to a compound heterozygosis. Methods: Accepted clotting procedures were used. Sequencing of DNA was carried out by means of Applied Biosystems Instruments. Results: A compound heterozygote due to the association of a new mutation (Gla72Asp) with an already known mutation (Gly154Arg) of the FX gene is reported. The proposita is a 38 year old female who had a moderate bleeding tendency (menorrhagia, epistaxis, easy bruising). The proposita has never received substitution therapy but in the occasion of a uterine biopsy. The mother was asymptomatic but was a heterozygote for the new mutation. The father was asymptomatic but had deserted the family and could not be investigated. After this abandonment the mother of the proposita re-married with an asymptomatic man and she gave birth to a son who was asymptomatic but was also heterozygous for the new mutation (Gla72Asp). As a consequence it has to be assumed that the first husband of the mother of the proposita was heterozygous for the known mutation (Gly154Arg). Conclusion: This is the third case of a new mutation in the FX gene reported, during the past few years, in Argentina.


Author(s):  
Gabriele Stephan ◽  
Niklas Ravn-Boess ◽  
Dimitris G Placantonakis

Abstract Members of the adhesion family of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) have received attention for their roles in health and disease, including cancer. Over the past decade, several members of the family have been implicated in the pathogenesis of glioblastoma. Here, we discuss the basic biology of adhesion GPCRs and review in detail specific members of the receptor family with known functions in glioblastoma. Finally, we discuss the potential use of adhesion GPCRs as novel treatment targets in neuro-oncology.


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.


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