Development of Social and Culture Aspects Pre-service Science Teachers on Learning for Nature of Science

Understanding aspects of the Nature of Science (NOS) for preservice science teachers is one of the essential components to be able to understand Science and its processes. There are seven aspects of NOS: empirical, inference, creative, latent theory, tentative, scientific procedural myths, theories and laws of science, social and cultural dimensions, and their embedding in science. There are 48 preservice science teachers involved in this study. Researchers explored their views about NOS and Indigenous Knowledge (IK) through a validated questionnaire. Results showed that the students' opinions on NOS consisted of empirical, tentative, inference, law, scientific theory, and creativity. Meanwhile, aspects of laden theory, myths of scientific procedures, and social and cultural dimensions embedded with science have not been described by students. Fortunately, the students presented IK as an authentic context based on the culture in science learning. Students express IK ideas: 1) biomedicine (40 students), Biopesticide (2 students), beauty ingredients (2 students), additives (1 student), and supernatural medicine (1 student). Integrating Science and IK as an authentic context in science learning leads IK toward high technology and strengthens NOS aspects. In addition, the assumption that IK has no future is declining.

Investigating Scientists’ Views of the Family Resemblance Approach to Nature of Science in Science Education

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.

Development of INoSIT (Integration Nature of Science in Inquiry with Technology) Learning Models to Improve Science Literacy: A Preliminary studies

Has successfully created the INoSIT learning paradigm to increase students' science literacy competency. This design aims to integrate information and communication technology (ICT) with inquiry and nature of science (NoS) models to teach scientific literacy to junior high school students using a multi-representation method. The BSCS 5E model (Involvement of Biological Science Curriculum Study, Exploration, Explanation, Elaboration, and Evaluation) and the IBL model (Investigation-based learning) have many phases whose implementation requires many processes. So, the INoSIT model is designed to simplify multiple phases or sub-phases. As a result, IBL (inquiry-based learning) is ineffective and inefficient in terms of learning time. It is also challenging to teach scientific literacy of abstract concepts using this method. The study employs a descriptive analysis method in conjunction with a literature review pattern. The INoSIT model with the syntax Eliciting, Hypothesis, Testing Hypothesis, Elucidation, and Reflection was created from the results of the investigation of the weaknesses of the BSCS 5E (Biological Science Curriculum Study Engagement, Exploration, Explanation, Elaboration, and Evaluation) and the IBL (Inquiry-based learning) models. To construct students' knowledge of literacy and the study is anticipated to contribute to creativity, originality, and the development of a proclivity for inquiry and research

Correction: Mahler et al. Preservice Biology Teachers’ Scientific Reasoning Skills and Beliefs about Nature of Science: How Do They Develop and Is There a Mutual Relationship during the Development? Educ. Sci. 2021, 11, 558

In the original version of the paper [...]

‘Why don’t you just tell us what light really is?’ Easy-to-implement teaching materials that link quantum physics to nature of science

High school students’ difficulties with quantum physics (QP) are partly due to their limited understanding of the nature of science (NOS). The essence of QP can only be understood with informed views about NOS aspects such as the role of models and the relevance of controversies between physicists. Inversely, QP is an ideal topic for teaching aspects of NOS. However, secondary school textbooks seldom support teachers to explicitly address NOS in QP. Drawing on a five year research program, including observations of students and teachers, we present teaching resources that link NOS aspects with QP. Our materials support active and reflective learning activities, while being adaptable to teachers’ individual needs and affordances. We hope to inspire teachers to address NOS in their QP lessons.

A história do fogo na formação dos professores de Química

A literatura descreve uma crise no ensino de ciências evidenciada pelos altos índices de analfabetismo científico. Uma das razões apontadas é o fato de alunos e professores apresentarem noções distorcidas do que é ciência. Visando combater tais deficiências, neste trabalho testamos uma metodologia que utiliza a história da ciência para ensinar sobre aspectos da natureza da ciência (NdC). Elaboramos um estudo de caso a partir da obra Ensaio sobre o fogo, publicada em 1790 pelo filósofo suíço Marc-Auguste Pictet, e aplicamos essa atividade em duas turmas de licenciatura em química do Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de São Paulo (IFSP). A metodologia empregada, chamada História Interrompida, constrói-se com base numa narrativa linear com questões que interrompem a história e fomentam a participação dos alunos em debates sobre aspectos da NdC ligados ao caso. As aulas foram gravadas em vídeo e as falas dos alunos analisadas segundo referencial de Análise de Conteúdo, tomando aspectos previstos da NdC como categorias a priori. Todas as categorias previstas registraram ocorrências e, além destas, identificamos outras que surgiram de maneira espontânea nas falas dos alunos. Esses resultados reforçam a potencialidade de discussões explícitas sobre NdC na formação de professores.The history of fire in the training of chemistry teachersAbstractSpecialized literature describes a crisis in science education evidenced by high rates of scientific illiteracy. The problem would in part derive from students and teachers with naive perceptions of science. In this work we present the testing of a didactic strategy that uses history of science to approach features of nature of science (NoS) in classroom. We started by elaborating a case study based on the 1790 book An Essay on fire, by the Swiss philosopher Marc-Auguste Pictet. Then we applied the methodology in two pre-service chemistry teacher education classes at São Paulo Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology (IFSP). Such methodology is known as Interrupted Story. It comprises a linear narrative which is interrupted at some points by questions that try to encourage students to participate in debates on NoS topics related to the case. We videotaped the classes and took some foreseen aspects of NoS as a priori categories to proceed the analysis of the students' speeches according to a Content Analysis framework. All the predicted categories registered occurrences. Furthermore, we identified other categories that arose spontaneously in the students' debates. Such results reinforce the potential of explicit discussions about NoS in teachers’ education.Keywords: History of chemistry; Nature of science; Interrupted story; Fire; Pictet.

“The End of Human Exceptionality”: The Shift of the Anthropological Dominant in Science Fiction

Based on the methodological proposals of literary anthropology, in particular on the conceptual ideas of C. Levi-Strauss (structural anthropology), J. Ortega y Gasset (“dehumanization of arts”), J.-M. Schaeffer (“the end of human exceptionality”), M. Foucault (the fall of a human being from the humanistic pedestal of culture), the article under studies emphasizes the violation of the anthropological dominant in science fiction, which is very typical of the fantasy genre. Consequently, there arise new principles of constructing personosphere of a literary text. On the example of the novel “City” (1953) by an American science fiction writer Clifford Simak, the article traces the way a human being shifts from the center of personosphere to the “outskirts” of narration, whereas its image acquires fictional parameters. This all happens due to the phenomenon of “anthropocene” (the term by G. Canavan), which implies the harmful consequences of the human reigning over the nature. In addition, the author of the article introduces the notion of “phantasoid’ – a character of the fictional world of fantasy (outlined by the narrator) that functions exceptionally in the imagination of a certain fantastic character and is somehow related to his previous experience. The novel by C. Simak outlines a gradual shift of the anthropological vector: the heterogeneous image of a human turns into a counter-image, whereby particular significance is attached to the change in the attitude towards mankind. In the text, human culture is perceived as something alien, while Simak’s image of a human being ruins the so called imagological stereotype, along with the reader’s receptive expectations. The role of the attractor in the novel is assigned to “antromorphized” and “humanized” creatures (plants, animals, objects, robots, mutants), which indicates the drastic breach with the previous genre tradition, as well as higlights a peculiar polemic connection with classical literary science fiction. This all proves the metamorphic nature of science fiction and its transition into the hyperreal dimensions of fantasy, where different artificial forms of life and mentality can peacefully coexist with each other.