Assessing Teachers' Competencies in Identifying Aspects of Nature of Science in Educational Critical Scenarios

International Council of Associations for Science Education. Dokuz Eylul University Faculty of Education, Buca, Izmir 35150, Turkey. Tel: +90-532-4267927; Fax: +90-232-4204895; Web site: http://icaseonline.net

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10

Scientific Principles; Foreign Countries; Science Teachers; Science Instruction; Elementary School Science; Elementary School Teachers; Teacher Competencies; Vignettes; Inservice Teacher Education; Faculty Development; Science and Society

2077-2327

Many scholars and science curricula from around the world describe socioscientific issues (SSIs) as meaningful contexts for teaching about the nature of science (NOS). These calls are guided by the assumption that science teachers are able to identify relevant aspects of the NOS in a given SSI and to decide how to utilize these for NOS instruction. To this end, this study aimed to assess a group of science teachers' competencies in identifying aspects of the NOS in various educational critical scenarios (ECS) featuring different SSI. 15 science teachers' understandings of the NOS were assessed through interviews and their competence in identifying aspects of the NOS in given ECSs was addressed through an open-ended questionnaire. The results indicated that, although all of the participants had informed views regarding the majority of the aspects of the NOS, the majority of them failed to transfer this knowledge and could not exhibit similar competence in identifying some aspects of NOS in ECSs. This implies that having an informed understanding of the NOS does not guarantee effective translation of this understanding into the classrooms.

As Provided

2019

EJ1205413