Making Connections

Distinguishing Nature of Science Beliefs, Knowledge and Understandings

“…Though controversy remains over the extent to which knowledge and understanding are distinct concepts (Grimm, 2006), there is some consensus that understanding involves an appreciation of the connection between knowledge propositions (Elgin, 2007;Kvanvig, 2003) and confers an ability to appropriately apply knowledge across contexts (de Regt, 2009;Woodward, 2003). A recent movement in the NOS research programme has seen researchers acknowledging that NOS expertise involves the possession of an interconnected conceptual NOS knowledge structure, rather than just the acquisition of isolated propositions Mulvey et al, 2021;Peters-Burton et al, 2019). We propose that NOS understanding refers to a grasping of the relationships between NOS knowledge and beliefs that supports the ability to transfer learning across contexts.…”

“…The NOS understanding construct is based on the model of understanding as interconnected knowledge (Davis, 1995;Elgin, 2007;Kvanvig, 2003). This view is increasingly acknowledged in the emerging NOS epistemic network research programme (Mulvey et al, 2021;Peters-Burton et al, 2019). The kind of compound structure described here is unlikely to be easily assessable based on responses to Likert scale probes, and more expansive approaches to the assessment of NOS understanding, for example, case-based open-ended response are likely to be helpful (Allchin, 2011).…”

“…Turning to understanding, whilst it is often cited as a particularly valuable epistemic state (de Regt, 2009;Grimm, 2012;Smith & Siegel, 2004), perhaps because of ongoing debates about the nature of the concept itself (de Regt et al, 2009;Grimm et al, 2017), there is a lack of consensus about how understanding in general, and therefore NOS understanding in particular, might be assessed. If a model of understanding as an appropriately connected conceptual structure (Elgin, 2007;Kvanvig, 2003) is adopted, NOS understanding assessment approaches might examine the inter-relationship of knowledge elements elicited from multiple choice probes (Mulvey et al, 2021;Peters-Burton et al, 2019), open-ended responses (Koksal & Cakiroglu, 2010), comments in interviews (Zimmermann & Gilbert, 2010) or essays (Allchin, 2011). Given the graded nature of understanding, when reporting NOS understanding, students' achievements might be described on a continuum, for example, shallow, partial or deep understanding.…”