Using Children’s Literature in the Middle School Science Class to Teach Nature of Science

Abstract

In this study, we report the results of the content analysis of preservice middle school science teachers’ own written science storybooks and middle school female students’ reflections of five of the books. The participants of this study were 50 preservice middle school science teachers taking a history and nature of science course and 13 sixth-grade female students in a school in Turkey. We report representations of nature of science (NOS) aspects included in the preservice teachers’ own written storybooks. Observation and inference was the most commonly included aspect among the NOS aspects, followed by the tentative NOS. We used a qualitative analysis of transcribed classroom discussions around five storybooks used by five preservice teachers in their field experiences. We found that the teachers facilitated explicit reflections about NOS aspects and science content covered in the books. Our findings build on research showing that appropriately designed children’s science books can be used as classroom tools for supporting NOS instruction. We found that writing their storybooks and refining their NOS ideas through discussions provides a powerful tool for developing preservice teachers’ knowledge about NOS. Preservice teachers facilitated discussions promoting explicit student reflections about NOS aspects and science content using these books.

Appendix

1.1 Story 1

1.1.1 Hapless Pluto

Once upon a time, there were many planets in space, and some of these planets were legendary for their strong family ties. One of them was the solar system that consisted of the Sun, which was the mother of nine planets. Each of the children of mother Sun had distinctive features. For example, Jupiter was the largest among the siblings, while Saturn has been known with its beautiful ringlets, and Uranus has been known with its icy materials that contained methane. Neptune was the most antisocial and the coldest child of the Sun and therefore it was the most distant to its mother. Mars was blushing with anger and therefore its color was red. Uranus was the mischievous child and was always rotating on its sides. Mercury, who loved his mother the most, was always in close proximity to his mother, so his temperature was high. The most intelligent and resourceful of them was planet Earth. The smallest and the quietest was Pluto. One day everybody was bored and decided to play a game. However, the game ended with an unfortunate accident… Pluto was injured from the accident. The mother Sun took his son, Pluto to the doctor. The doctor made some testing including a DNA testing. The results of the DNA test showed that Pluto was not the child of the Sun. The Sun and other planets were shocked with the results and read the doctor’s report. The report presented some empirical evidence and said Pluto was a dwarf planet… Pluto lost his planetary status and became a dwarf planet. That shows us our explanation of scientific knowledge can change in light of new evidence and interpretation of findings from further observations.

1.2 Story 2

1.2.1 Time Machine of Nasreddin Hodja

Once upon a time, Nasreddin Hodja was going to the wheat mill with his Donkey, named Karakacan. He met with two villagers on the way. One of the men was digging a hole while the other was filling the opened hole with a shovel. Nasreddin Hodja observed them for a while but he could not understand what they were doing. He burst into laughter and said, what are you guys doing here? Then Sir Hasan said, “Hodja! God sent us you. You came here to find an answer to our question”. Sir Ahmet said, “Hodja, you are the one who can find a Nasreddin Hodja,” “hey you guys, just tell me what the problem is”.

Sir Ahmet, “Hodja, Hasan claims that ‘if the world is a sphere, then I would go to the other side of the world using a tunnel that is dug from one side to the other side of the World’”.

Nasreddin Hodja, “I think it is a spectacular idea. Then, why are you mad with that? Why are you filling the opened hole?”.

Hasan, “Come on, Hodja! How do we know that the Earth is spherical? What if the world is flat? If it is flat, then we all fall into the hole and can’t come back. If it were spherical, wouldn’t those who were below the earth fall upside down?”.

Nasreddin Hodja was confused. Things that both Hasan and Ahmet said all made sense to him. He could not decide which one was right.

The Hodja could not think of an answer and took Karakacan and continued on his way. The men shouted! “Hodja! Where are you going? You have not found an answer, yet!”.

The Hodja shouted back, “Masters, let’s meet at the same place two days from now. I need to catch prayer time” [Nasreddin Hodja never says he does not know the answer].

He started off on his way with many questions in his mind. He started to talk to his donkey, “Karakacan, what shape do you think the Earth is? How would we find an answer to this question”. Suddenly, he had an idea. He thought he would invent a time machine and travel in time to meet people and listen to what they thought about it. Nasreddin Hodja worked hard and finally he invented a time machine and was ready for the journey. Will Hodja ever go without Karakacan? No way! He took the donkey and pressed the button on the machine.

First they went to ancient Egypt. Nasreddin Hodja and Karakacan started wandering around Egypt. When they saw a man, Hodja could not resist and asked, “Do you know that the Earth is spherical?” The Egyptian man was mad and he said, “What are you talking about, man, the Earth is like a box and the sky is like a lid of the box”. Other people around them were looking at confusedly. A man [Nasreddin Hodja] in a big turban cap on a donkey! Does such thing ever happen in the middle of the desert? Hodja was scared of people and said, “Karakacan, run, run, press that button”. Once again, they started traveling in time… Then, they went to ancient India and talked to people they met. Each of them said a different thing about the shape of the Earth. The widely accepted view was that the earth was carried on an elephant which had turtles under its feet and turtles swam in an endless sea.

Nasreddin Hodja was completely mixed up. They pressed the button and went a little further in time. This time, Hodja and Karakacan met with Christopher Columbus [Italian explorer], who was preparing to sail with three ships. Hodja asked, “Where are you heading to?” Columbus said, “If the Earth is spherical, we would return to where we start our trip”… Nasreddin Hodja decided to travel to the future when technology would be more advanced and scientific studies are carried out about earth and space. The he pressed the button and went to NASA where they met with scientists and saw lots of picture of Earth taken from space. These pictures showed that the Earth was spherical.

Then, they pressed the button and came back in time when they lived. Nasreddin Hodja made it to meet the two men on time. Sir Hasan and Sir Ahmet waited for the response.

Nasreddin Hoca: Masters, evidence is needed to explain a scientific phenomenon. The shape of the Earth thought to be flat or disk in the past. The explanation of this scientific phenomenon changed over time with the advancement of technology and in light of new evidence. We know that the Earth is spherical based on the current evidence we have.