Teaching of the NOS in Physics and Chemistry Education: Odds and Evens

Öz

In science education many researches and studies have demonstrated importance of nature of science (NOS) and they claimed that teaching of NOS is the ultimate goal of science education. Given importance has been emphasized to reflect on all components of science education from school environment to curriculum content. Besides, many researches embraces a view that beliefs of science teachers about NOS and epistemology of science have a direct effect on their instructional practices. Although numerous global and local (Turkey) attempts aim to teach a satisfactory level of understanding about  NOS and pave epistemological beliefs in line with the modern philosophical approaches for both students and teachers, most of the researches, authentic or novel, have demonstrated unsatisfactory results. This study has two main goals. First aim is to reveal sophomore pre-service science teachers’ epistemological beliefs and views about the NOS . Secondly, evaluate the results in the lights of previous constructivist efforts that aims to transmit NOS views in line with consensus view. To reveal the views about the NOS, VOSTS test was used. 45 sophomore pre-service science teachers responded the test and the results were quantitatively analyzed. The results showed that eight of ten items were mostly responded in a positivist approach. Because the results of the questionnaire demonstrated that most of the participants have positivist views, it was questioned that why still the level of understanding of the NOS is not satisfactory. Additionally, results showed that participants, who had been educated by constructivist science curricula that has mainly supported consensus view of NOS teaching, showed weak level of understanding NOS. In a similar vein, possible reasons were proposed and discussed in the light of previous studies for inadequate level of understanding of the NOS. Results imply that teaching of the NOS seems far from being contextualized with daily life and science as a human enterprise.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Epistemological views,nature of science,science education

Fizik ve Kimya Eğitiminde Bilimin Doğasının Öğretimi: Eleştirel Bir Bakış

Öz

Fen eğitiminde birçok çalışma bilimin doğasının (NOS) önemini göstermiştir ve bilimin doğasının öğretiminin fen eğitiminin nihai amacı olduğunu iddia etmişlerdir. Fen eğitiminin okul ortamından müfredat içeriğine kadar tüm bileşenlerini yansıtmaya önem verildiği vurgulanmıştır. Ayrıca, birçok araştırma, fen bilgisi öğretmenlerinin bilimin doğasının ve epistemolojisi hakkındaki inançlarının öğretim uygulamaları üzerinde doğrudan bir etkiye sahip olduğu görüşünü benimsemektedir. Her ne kadar çok sayıda küresel ve yerel (Türkiye) girişim bilimin doğası hakkında tatmin edici düzeyde bir anlayış öğretmeyi ve epistemolojik inançları, hem öğrenciler hem de öğretmenler için, modern felsefi yaklaşımlarla paralel olarak ortaya koymayı amaçlasa da, araştırmaların çoğu, eski veya yeni, tatmin edici olmayan sonuçlar göstermiştir. Bu çalışmanın iki ana amacı vardır. İlk amaç, ikinci sınıf fen bilgisi öğretmen adaylarının epistemolojik inançlarını ve NOS hakkındaki görüşlerini ortaya koymaktır. İkinci olarak, bilimin doğası hakkındaki görüşlerini “consensus view” e göre iletmeyi amaçlayan fizik ve kimya derslerinde önceki yapılandırmacı çabaların ışığında sonuçları değerlendirmektir. Bilimin doğasının hakkındaki görüşlerini ortaya koymak için VOSTS testi kullanıldı. 45 ikinci sınıf öğretmen adayının katıldığı anketin sonuçlar nicel olarak analiz edildi. Sonuçlar, on maddeden sekizinin çoğunlukla pozitivist bir yaklaşımla yanıtlandığını göstermiştir. Anketin sonuçları, katılımcıların çoğunun pozitivist görüşlere sahip olduğunu gösterdiğinden, bilimin doğasının anlama düzeyinin neden hala tatmin edici olmadığı masaya yatırlımıştır. Ek olarak, sonuçlar, bilimin doğasının öğretiminin esas olarak “consensus view” i destekleyen yapılandırmacı fen müfredatı tarafından eğitilen katılımcıların, bilimin doğasını anlamada zayıf bir düzeyde olduğunu göstermiştir. Benzer bir şekilde, bilimin doğasının yetersiz düzeyde anlaşılması için önceki çalışmalar ışığında olası nedenler önerilmiş ve tartışılmıştır. Sonuçlar, bilimin doğasının öğretiminin günlük yaşam ve bilim ile insan ürünü olarak bağlamlaştırılmasından çok uzak olduğunu göstermektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Epistemolojik görüşler,bilimin doğası,fen eğitimi

Kaynakça

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