Taiwanese Gifted Students' Views of Nature of Science

Abstract

This study examined the conceptions of nature of science (NOS) possessed by a group of gifted seventh‐grade students from Taiwan. The students were engaged in a 1‐week science camp with emphasis on scientific inquiry and NOS. A Chinese version of a NOS questionnaire was developed, specifically addressing the context of Chinese culture, to assess students' views on the development of scientific knowledge. Pretest results indicated that the majority of participants had a basic understanding of the tentative, subjective, empirical, and socially and culturally embedded aspects of NOS. Some conflicting views and misconceptions held by the participants are discussed. There were no significant changes in students' views of NOS after instruction, possibly due to time limitations and a ceiling effect. The relationship between students' cultural values and development of NOS conceptions and the impact of NOS knowledge on students' science learning are worth further investigation.

Prospective Teachers’ Perceptions of Science Theories: An Action Research Study

“…This study confirmed that students are leaving high school with misconceptions about the nature of scientific theories, and these misconceptions persist into their college years of education (Kurdziel & Libarkin, 2002;Liu & Lederman, 2002). For many prospective teachers, misconceptions result from the way "theory" is used in everyday contexts versus and the way "theory" is meant in the science community.…”

“…However, studies at both the K-12 level (Liu & Lederman, 2002) and in college science courses (Kurdziel & Libarkin, 2002) indicate that students are far from achieving this goal. The seven tenets of science describes science as tentative, empirically based, subjective, based on human inference, requires imagination and creativity, and is socially culturally embedded (Abd-El-Khalick et al, 1998;Liu & Lederman, 2002). Despairingly, a number of studies document that teachers and prospective teachers-those who are expected to have an understanding of these tenets-fail to have mature views (AbdEl-Khalick & Akerson, 2004).…”

Contextualization of Nature of Science Within the Socioscientific Issues Framework: A Review of Research

“…Students" understandings of NOS have been examined in numerous studies (e.g., Cil & Cepni, 2016;Köseoğlu, Tümay, & Budak, 2008;Leach, Hind, & Ryder, 2003;Liu & Lederman, 2002;Walker & Zeidler, 2003). Research has consistently shown that typically students have naive understandings of NOS (Khishfe & Lederman, 2006).…”

Effect of a Science Camp on the Children’s Views of Tentative Nature of Science

“…Most of the research reports about students' views of tentative nature of scientific knowledge showed that children at different grade levels held inadequate understandings of the tentative NOS (Akerson & Abd-El-Khalick, 2005;Khishfe, 2008;Khishfe & Abd-El-Khalick, 2002; Khishfe & Lederman, 2006;Lederman & O'Malley, 1990;Liu & Lederman, 2002). Akerson and Abd-El-Khalick (2005) reported that most of the children at fourth grade held naïve views about tentative NOS.…”