Abstract
This paper provides a detailed analysis of the inclusion of aspects of nature of science (NOS) in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). In this new standards document, NOS elements in eight categories are discussed in Appendix H along with illustrative statements (called exemplars). Many, but not all, of these exemplars are linked to the standards by their association with either the “practices of science” or “crosscutting concepts,” but curiously not with the recommendations for science content. The study investigated all aspects of NOS in NGSS including the accuracy and inclusion of the supporting exemplar statements and the relationship of NOS in NGSS to other aspects of NOS to support teaching and learning science. We found that while 92 % of these exemplars are acceptable, only 78 % of those written actually appear with the standards. “Science as a way of knowing” is a recommended NOS category in NGSS but is not included with the standards. Also, several other NOS elements fail to be included at all grade levels thus limiting their impact. Finally, NGSS fails to include or insufficiently emphasize several frequently recommended NOS elements such as creativity and subjectivity. The paper concludes with a list of concerns and solutions to the challenges of NOS in NGSS.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abd-El-Khalick, F. (2004). Over and over again: College students’ views of nature of science. In L. B. Flick & N. G. Lederman (Eds.), Scientific inquiry and nature of science (pp. 389–425). Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Abd-El-Khalick, F., Bell, R. L., & Lederman, N. G. (1998). The nature of science and instructional practice: Making the unnatural natural. Science Education, 82, 417–437.
Akerson, V. L., Donnelly, L. A., Riggs, M. L., & Eastwood, J. L. (2012). Developing a community of practice to support preservice elementary teachers’ nature of science instruction. International Journal of Science Education, 34, 1371–1392.
Alshamrani, S. M. (2008). Context, accuracy and level of inclusion of nature of science concepts in current high school physics textbooks. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR.
American Association for the Advancement of Science. (1989). Project 2061: Science for all Americans. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
American Association for the Advancement of Science. (1993). Benchmarks for science literacy. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Bell, R. L. (2004). Perusing Pandora’s Box: Exploring the what, when, and how of the nature of science instruction. In L. B. Flick & N. G. Lederman (Eds.), Scientific inquiry and nature of science (pp. 427–446). Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Chen, S. (2006). Development of an instrument to assess views on nature of science and attitudes toward teaching science. Science Education, 90, 803–819.
Clough, M. (2000). The nature of science: Understanding how the game of science is played. The Clearing House, 74(1), 13–17.
Hanuscin, D. L. (2013). Critical incidents in the development of pedagogical content knowledge for teaching the nature of science: A prospective elementary teacher’s journey. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 24, 933–956.
Hsieh, H. F., & Shannon, S. E. (2005). Three approaches to qualitative content analysis. Qualitative Health Research, 15, 1277–1288.
Lederman, N. G. (1992). Students’ and teachers’ conceptions of the nature of science: A review of the research. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 29, 331–359.
Lederman, N. G. (1998, December). The state of science education: Subject matter without context. Electronic Journal of Science Education, 3. http://wolfweb.unr.edu/homepage/jcannon/ejse/lederman.html
Lederman, N. G. (2007). Nature of science: Past, present, and future. In S. K. Abell & N. G. Lederman (Eds.), Handbook of research on science education (pp. 831–879). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Lederman, N. G., & Lederman, J. S. (2004). Revising instruction to teach nature of science. Science Teacher, 71, 36–39.
Lederman, N. G., & Lederman, J. S. (2014). Is nature of science going, going, going, gone? Journal of Science Teacher Education, 25, 235–238.
Liu, S., & Lederman, N. G. (2002). Taiwanese gifted students’ views of nature of science. School Science and Mathematics, 102, 114–123.
Matthews, M. R. (Ed.). (2014). International handbook of research in history, philosophy and science teaching. Dordrecht: Springer.
McComas, W. (2004). Keys to teaching the nature of science. Science Teacher, 71, 24–27.
McComas, W. F. (2005). Seeking NOS standards: What content consensus exists in popular books on the nature of science. Presented at the annual conference of the National Association of Research in Science Teaching, Dallas, TX.
McComas, W. F. (2014). Nature of science in the science curriculum and in teacher education programs in the United States. In M. R. Matthews (Ed.), International handbook of research in history, philosophy and science teaching (pp. 1993–2023). Dordrecht: Springer.
McComas, W. F., Clough, M. P., & Almazroa, H. (1998). The role and character of the nature of science in science education. In W. F. McComas (Ed.), The nature of science in science education: Rationales and strategies (pp. 3–39). Dordrecht: Kluwer.
McComas, W. F., Lee, C., & Sweeney, S. (2009). A critical review of current U.S. state science standards with respect to the inclusion of elements related to the nature of science. In Proceedings of the 2009 NAST annual conference, Garden Grove, CA.
National Research Council. (1996). National Science Education Standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
National Research Council. (2012). A framework for K–12 science education: Practices, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
NGSS Lead States. (2013). Next Generation Science Standards: For states, by states. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Osborne, J., Collins, S., Ratcliffe, M., Millar, R., & Duschl, R. (2003). What “ideas-about-science” should be taught in school science? A Delphi study of the expert community. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 40, 692–720.
Schwartz, R., Lederman, N., & Crawford, B. (2004). Developing views of the nature of science in an authentic context: An explicit approach to bridging the gap between nature of science and scientific inquiry. Science Education, 88, 610–645.
Tao, P. (2003). Eliciting and developing junior secondary students’ understanding of the nature of science through a peer collaboration instruction in science stories. International Journal of Science Education, 25, 147–171.
Vesterinen, V.-M., & Aksela, M. (2013). Design of a chemistry teacher education course on the nature of science. Science & Education, 22, 2193–2225.
Wahbeh, N., & Abd-El-Khalick, F. (2014). Revisiting the translation of nature of science understandings into instructional practice: Teachers’ nature of science pedagogical content knowledge. International Journal of Science Education, 36, 425–466.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
About this article
Cite this article
McComas, W.F., Nouri, N. The Nature of Science and the Next Generation Science Standards: Analysis and Critique. J Sci Teacher Educ 27, 555–576 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10972-016-9474-3
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10972-016-9474-3