Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A Novel Method for Teaching the Difference and Relationship Between Theories and Laws to High School Students

  • S I : NATURE OF SCIENCE
  • Published:
Science & Education Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study examines the use of an explicit, reflective method for teaching the difference and relationship between scientific theories and laws to ninth-grade students. Students reflected individually and then as a whole class on theories and laws using a Venn diagram, both before and after reading short articles describing features of theories and laws that provided an explicit challenge to their naïve prior conceptions. In small groups, they chose a theory or law, researched it, constructed a poster, and did a gallery walk. Examination of students’ Venn diagrams and answers to a single question from VNOS-C given as both a pre- and post-test showed that prior to the lesson, all students except for one held more naïve views of both the difference between theories and laws and the nature of scientific theories. After the lesson, more than a third of them had improved their conceptions to more informed, and nearly a quarter understood that there is not a hierarchical relationship between scientific theories and laws.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. All names are pseudonyms.

  2. Several students drew pictures to illustrate their examples on their pre-tests, rather than stating them in the text of their answers. It seems that they interpreted the word “illustrate” in the instruction to “illustrate your answer with an example” to mean that they should produce a drawing of the example.

  3. The student’s Venn diagram had laws in the first column and theories in the third column. They are reversed here for easier comparison with the post-test responses.

References

  • Abd-El-Khalick, F., & Lederman, N. G. (2000). Improving science teachers’ conceptions of nature of science: a critical review of the literature. International Journal of Science Education, 22(7), 665–701.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bradford, A (2017a). What is a Scientific Theory? Live Science. https://www.livescience.com/21491-what-is-a-scientific-theory-definition-of-theory.html. Accessed 18 Feb 2018.

  • Bradford, A. (2017b). What is a Law in Science? Live Science. https://www.livescience.com/21457-what-is-a-law-in-science-definition-of-scientificlaw.html. Accessed 18 Feb 2018.

  • Brown, J. S., Allan Collins, A., & Duguid, P. (1989). Situated cognition and the culture of learning. Educational Researcher, 18, 32–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clough, M. P. (1994). Diminish students’ resistance to biological evolution. The American Biology Teacher, 56, 409–415.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clough, M. P. (2006). Learners’ responses to the demands of conceptual change: considerations for effective nature of science instruction. Science Education, 15, 463–494.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Donovan, M., & Bransford, J. (Eds.). (2005). How students learn: history, mathematics, and science in the classroom. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press..

    Google Scholar 

  • Driver, R., Asoko, H., Leach, J., Scott, P., & Mortimer, E. (1994). Constructing scientific knowledge in the classroom. Educational Researcher, 23, 5–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Driver, R., Guesne, E., & Tiberghien, A. (2000). Children’s ideas and the learning of science. In R. Driver, E. Guesne, & A. Tiberghien (Eds.), Children’s idea in science (pp. 1–9). Philadelphia, PA: Open University Press (Original work published, 1985).

    Google Scholar 

  • Etkina, E., Mestre, J., & O’Donnell, A. (2005). The impact of the cognitive revolution on science learning and teaching. In J. M. Royer (Ed.), The cognitive revolution in educational psychology. Greenwich. CT: Information Age Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Howe, E. M., & Rudge, D. W. (2005). Recapitulating the history of sickle-cell anemia research: improving students’ NOS views explicitly and reflectively. Science & Education, 14, 423–441.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Irwin, A. R. (2000). Historical case studies: teaching the nature of science in context. Science Education, 84, 5–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • 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, 551–578.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim, S. Y., & Irving, K. E. (2010). History of science as an instructional context: student learning in genetics and nature of science. Science & Education, 19, 187–215.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • 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). New York, NY: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lederman, N. G., & Abd-El-Khalick, F. (1998). Avoiding de-natured science: activities that promote understandings of the nature of science. In W. McComas (Ed.), The nature of science in science education: rationales and strategies (pp. 83–126). Dordrecht (The Netherlands): Kluwer Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • 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 in Science Teaching, 39(6), 497–521.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McComas, W. (1996). Ten myths of science: reexamining what we think we know…. School Science and Mathematics, 96, 10–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McKinley, E. (2007). Postcolonialism, indigenous students, and science education. In S. K. Abell & N. G. Lederman (Eds.), Handbook of research on science education (pp. 199–226). New York, NY: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miles, M. B., Huberman, M. A., & Saldaña, J. (2014). Qualitative data analysis: a methods sourcebook. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • National Research Council. (2012). A framework for K-12 science education: practices, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. Retrieved from http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13165. Accessed 1 March 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  • NGSS Lead States. (2013). Next generation science standards: for states, by states. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Posner, J., Strike, K., Hewson, P., & Gertzog, W. (1982). Accommodation of a scientific conception: toward a theory of conceptual change. Science Education, 66, 211–227.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, M. U. (2010). Current status of research in teaching and learning evolution: II. Pedagogical issues. Science & Education, 19, 539–571.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Urhahne, D., Kermer, K., & Mayer, J. (2011). Conceptions of the nature of science – are they general or context specific? International Journal of Science and Mathematics, 9, 707–730.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This study was supported in part by Student and Faculty Excellence funds awarded to Kathryn L. Gray by the Appalachian State University College of Arts and Sciences.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Science Department, Caldwell Early College High School, Boone, NC, USA

    Kathryn L. Gray

  2. Science Department, Watauga High School, Boone, NC, USA

    Kathryn L. Gray

  3. Department of Biology, Appalachian State University, 572 Rivers Street, ASU Box 32027, Boone, NC, 28608, USA

    Khadija E. Fouad

Authors
  1. Kathryn L. Gray
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Khadija E. Fouad
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Khadija E. Fouad.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Gray, K.L., Fouad, K.E. A Novel Method for Teaching the Difference and Relationship Between Theories and Laws to High School Students. Sci & Educ 28, 471–501 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-019-00040-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-019-00040-6

Search

Navigation