The influence of teachers' conceptions of the nature of science on classroom practice

النوع : Mémoire

Developing scientifically literate individuals has become one of the important goals of science education. A scientifically literate individual is one who appreciates scientific knowledge, differentiates between evidence and opinion, is capable of understanding and using science to solve personal and societal problems, and understands the nature of science (NOS) (Lederman, 1992). Research has established that many teachers and students possess inadequate understandings of NOS. However, whether teachers' conceptions of NOS are reflected in their instructional planning and classroom practice remains an important academic research area, even though some research has been done on this topic. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to investigate teachers' conceptions of NOS and to determine the relationship between these conceptions and their classroom practice as well as to delineate the factors that facilitate or impede this relationship. To achieve this, a sample of seven high school biology teachers, with a science teaching diploma, was selected to participate in this study. These teachers filled out an open-ended questionnaire entitled "Views of the Nature of Science Questionnaire - form C (VNOS-C)" to gauge their NOS conceptions. In addition, they participated in semi-structured interviews to validate the results of the Questionnaire and investigate the factors enhancing or impeding relationships between conceptions and practice. Finally, teacher's classrooms were videotaped and their lesson plans were analyzed to identify evidence for NOS. Data was analyzed using a qualitative interpretive method. Results from the questionnaire and the interviews showed that most teachers do not possess appropriate views of NOS. Similarly, lesson plans, lacked any planning for teaching NOS aspects and analysis of classroom videotapes showed that teachers' practices lacked any explicit reference to the aspects of NOS. Despite the fact that teachers who participated in this study had studied NOS in their teacher education programs, it seems that NOS is absent from all their teaching related activities. On the other hand, various factors seem to mediate the translation of teachers' views into practices such as the curriculum teachers' experience, time constraints, and classroom management problems.