Exploring How Second Grade Elementary Teachers Translate Their Nature of Science Views into Classroom Practice After a Graduate Level Nature of Science Course

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to explore the factors mediating the translation of second grade teachers’ nature of science (NOS) views into classroom practice after completing a graduate level NOS course. Four second grade in-service elementary teachers comprised the sample of this study. Data were collected from several sources during the course of this study. The primary data sources were (a) assessment of the elementary teachers’ NOS views before and after the graduate level NOS course using the Views of Nature of Science Questionnaire Version B (VNOS-B) (Lederman et al., 2002) coupled with interviews, and (b) a classroom observation and videotaped recording of the elementary teachers’ best NOS lessons coupled with interview. We identified three distinct but related factors that mediated the translation of NOS views into classroom practice: the teachers’ perspectives about the developmental appropriateness of the NOS aspect, the teachers’ selection of target NOS aspects, and the relative importance placed by teachers on each NOS aspect.

Appendices

Appendix 1

Semi-Structured Interview Questions about Nature of Science Teaching

• 1. Is there any specific reason why you chose this particular NOS activity on the video-taping day?

• 2. Which NOS aspect(s) did you plan to address in this particular NOS activity?

• 3. Are there any other NOS aspects that can be taught through this particular NOS activity but you didn’t address? If yes, why didn’t you address those NOS aspects?

• 4. Can you explain why you chose to revise the activity? (This question was asked if the teacher revised the original NOS activity).

Appendix 2

The levels of nature of science understanding about the inferential aspect

Levels	Excerpt with authors’ interpretations
Uninformed (U)	Author 2: How do you think that scientists formulate the model of the atom? You said they use tools. Can you explain more what you mean by tools? Helen: I think that what I meant is that we can’t see with the naked eye. So, when they use microscope or that kind of thing that magnifies it, so we can bring it to learning environment. That kind of enlarge it so that we can see something that is concrete or like H2O… something that is solid. Something that is concrete that we can look at to learn from. Author 2: So, when we look through microscope what we see is the model of the atom? Helen: Right (Helen, post-NOS interview) Authors’ interpretations: Helen believes that by doing observations through microscope scientists formulate the model of an atom. In other words, she believes that the model of an atom is immediately available to the senses. She does not identify that scientists formulate the model of an atom through interpretation of their observations about an atom.
Developing (D)	Mary: Nobody knows for sure what an atom looks like. Scientists use their creativity and inference skills to develop a model of what an atom could look like. Author 2: How do you think scientists obtain knowledge of protons, electrons, and neutrons? Mary: Different experiments Author 2: By doing experiments, can scientists know or describe the structure of atom? Do they do other things to reach that knowledge? Mary: They have an opinion to begin with and then they come up with a way to prove their opinion could be true and they have evidence to back it up but no one really knows for sure until they can see it. (Mary, post-NOS interview) Authors’ interpretations: Even though Mary acknowledges that scientists use their inference skills to describe the structure of an atom, she also believes that scientists can reach the exact description of the structure of an atom by doing enough number of observations.
Informed (I)	Scientists cannot observe the inside of an atom through a microscope. Scientists made a model of what they believe an atom looks like based on phenomena they can observe. Scientists can observe the effects of + and − charges. They can also observe the physical phenomena when chemical energy is released and infer the dynamics of the things they can’t observe directly. Scientists can observe how matter reacts to certain conditions (heat, cold, etc.) and infer a model that would be consistent with the phenomena. It is tentative and the model will most likely be revised eventually. (John, post-NOS questionnaire) Authors’ interpretations: John acknowledges that inferences are not immediately available to the senses since they are interpretations of observations.