Abstract
There have been substantial reform efforts in science education to improve students’ understandings of science and its processes and provide continual support for students becoming scientifically literate (AAAS, Benchmarks for science literacy, Oxford University Press, New York, 1993; NRC, National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 1996; NSTA, NSTA position statement: The nature of science, www.nsta.org/159&psid=22, 2000). Despite previous research, it is still unclear whether young children are actually developmentally ready to conceptualize the ideas that are recommended in the reforms (Akerson and Volrich, J Res Sci Teach 43:377–394, 2006). The purpose of this study was to explore how explicit-reflective instruction could improve young students’ understanding of NOS. During an informal education setting, the authors taught NOS aspects using explicit-reflective instruction. Overall the students participating in the program improved their understanding of the target aspects of NOS through use of explicit reflective instruction. However, the levels of improvement varied across different aspects. Students improved the most in their understanding of the tentative nature of science and the roles of observation in scientific work, although there was still some confusion regarding the distinction between observation and inference. More work needs to be done exploring these specific topics and the role explicit reflective practice can play in identifying the particular problems students have in distinguishing these constructs.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
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, 417–436.
Abd-El-Khalick, F., & Lederman, N. G. (2001). Improving science teachers’ conceptions of the nature of science: A critical review of the literature. International Journal of Science, 22, 665–701.
Abell, S., Martini, M., & George, M. (2001). ‘That’s what scientists have to do’: Preservice elementary teachers’ conceptions of the nature of science during a moon investigation. International Journal of Science Education, 23, 109501109.
Akerson, V. L., & Abd-El-Khalick, F. (2005). How should I know what scientists do?— I am just a kid: Fourth grade students' conceptions of nature of science. Journal of Elementary Science Education, 17, 1–11.
Akerson, V. L., Abd-El-Khalick, F., & Lederman, N. G. (2000). Influence of a reflective explicit activity-based approach on elementary teachers’ conceptions of nature of science. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 37, 295–317.
Akerson, V. L., & Donnelly, L. A. (2009, May, on line version). Teaching nature of science to K-2 students: What understandings can they attain? International Journal of Science Education.
Akerson, V. L., Hanson, D., & Cullen, T. A. (2007). The influence of guided inquiry and explicit instruction on K-6 teachers’ views of nature of science. Journal of Research and Science Teaching, 18, 751–772.
Akerson, V., & Volrich, M. (2006). Teaching nature of science explicitly in a first-grade internship setting. Journal of Research and Science Teaching, 43, 377–394.
Akindehin, F. (1988). Effect of an instructional package on preservice science teachers’ understanding of the nature of science and acquisition of science-related attitudes. Science Education, 72, 73–82.
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). (1993). Benchmarks for science literacy. New York: Oxford University Press.
Anderson, C. W. (2007). Perspectives on science learning. In S. K. Abell & N. G. Lederman (Eds.), Handbook on science education. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc.
Carey, S. (1986). Cognitive science and science education. American Psychology, 41, 1123–1130.
Carey, S., Evans, R., Honda, M., Jay, E., & Unger, C. (1989). An experiment is when you try it and see if it works: A study of grade 7 students’ understanding of the construction of scientific knowledge [Special issue]. International Journal of Science Education, 11, 514–529.
Carey, S., & Smith, C. (1993). On understanding the nature of scientific knowledge. Educational Psychologist, 28(3), 235–251.
Central Association of Science and Mathematics Teachers. (1907). A consideration of the principles that should determine the courses in biology in the secondary schools. School Science and Mathematics, 7, 241–247.
Creswell, J. W. (2003). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
DeBoer, G. E. (2000). Scientific literacy: Another look at its historical and contemporary meanings and its relationship to science education reform. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 37, 582–601.
Driver, R., Guesne, E., & Tiberghein, A. (Eds.). (1985). Children’s ideas in science. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.
Duschl, R. A. (1990). Restructuring science education. New York: Teachers College Press.
Gess-Newsome, J. (2004). The use and impact of explicit instruction about the Nature of Science and science inquiry in an elementary science methods course. Science & Education, 11, 55–67.
Hanuscin, D., & Park-Rogers, M. (2008). Learning to observe and infer. Science and Children, 45(6), 56–57.
Khishfe, R., & Abd-El-Khalick, F. (2002). Influence of explicit and reflective versus implicit inquiry-oriented instruction on sixth graders’ views of nature of science. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 39(7), 551–578.
Leager, C. R. (2008). Observation versus inference. Science and Children, 2, 48–50.
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. 831–880). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Lederman, N. G., Abd-El-Khalick, F., Bell, R. L., & Schwartz, R. S. (2002). Views of nature of science questionnaire: Toward valid and meaningful assessment of learners’ conceptions of nature of science. Journal of Research and Science Teaching, 39, 497–521.
Lederman, J. S., & Lederman, N. G. (2004). Early elementary students’ and teacher’s understandings of nature of science and scientific inquiry: Lessons learned from Project ICAN. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching.
Lederman, N. G., & O’Malley, M. (1990). Students’ perceptions of tentativeness of science: Development, use, and sources of change. Science Education, 74, 225–239.
Lionni, L. (1997). A color of his own. New York: Random House Books.
Loughran, J. (2002). Effective reflective practice: In search of meaning in learning about teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 53(1), 33–43.
McComas, W. F. (1996). Ten myths of science: Reexaming what we think we know about the Nature of Science. School Science and Mathematics, 96(1), 10–25.
McComas, W. F., Clough, M. P., & Almazroa, H. (2006). The role and character of the nature of science in science education. In J. Gilbert (Ed.), Science education (pp. 28–57). New York: Routledge.
Metz, K. E. (2004). Children’s understanding of scientific inquiry: Their conceptualization of uncertainty in investigations of their own design. Cognition and Instruction, 22(2), 219–290.
Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
National Research Council. (1996). National science education standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
National Science Teachers Association. (2000). NSTA position statement: The nature of science. Retrieved March 18, 2003, from www.nsta.org/159&psid=22.
Sandoval, W. A. (2003). The inquiry paradox: Why doing science doesn’t necessarily change ideas about science. In C. P. Constantinou & Z. C. Zacharia (Eds.), Proceedings of the Sixth Intl. Computer-Based Learning in Science Conference 2003 (pp. 825–834). Nicosia, Cyprus.
Scharmann, L. C., Smith, M. U., James, M. C., & Jensen, M. (2005). Explicit reflective nature of science instruction: Evolution, intelligent design, and umbrellaology. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 16, 27–41.
Schwartz, R. S., & Lederman, N. G. (2004). Developing views of Nature of Science in an authentic context: An explicit approach to bridging the gap between Nature of Science and scientific inquiry. Science Education, 88(4), 610–645.
Smith, C. L., Maclin, D., Houghton, C., & Hennessey, M. G. (2000). Sixth-grade students’ epistemologies of science: The impact of school science experiences on epistemological development. Cognition and Instruction, 18, 349–422.
Walls, L. (2009). Awakening a dialog: Examining gender and race in NOS studies from 1967 to 2008. Paper presented at the national association of research in science teaching (NARST), April 17–21, 2009, Orange County, CA.
Zeidler, D. L., Walker, K. A., Ackett, W. A., & Simmons, M. L. (2002). Tangled up in views: Beliefs in the nature of science and responses to socioscientific dilemmas. Science Education, 86(3), 343–367.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
About this article
Cite this article
Quigley, C., Pongsanon, K. & Akerson, V.L. If We Teach Them, They Can Learn: Young Students Views of Nature of Science During an Informal Science Education Program. J Sci Teacher Educ 22, 129–149 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10972-010-9201-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10972-010-9201-4