An evaluation of the effect on EMY student teachers of learning about the nature of science

Abstract

Each and every individual possesses his/her own view of nature of science. This study is aimed to identify what views second year Emy students held and to evaluate the effectiveness of a one hour session on the nature of science on students' views. A questionnaire developed by Nott and Wellington (1993) was adopted to investigate the students' nature of science profile. Interviews were also carried out before and after the lecture to be able to identify any changes in the students' nature of science profile. In order to obtain a deeper insight of the effect of this lecture, another questionnaire was set to probe how student teachers tend to apply what they learned on nature of science in their teaching practice in primary schools. Students were found to hold on to the process type of scientific knowledge. They were also biased towards relativism, realism and decontextualism, while showing a balanced view towards deductivism and inductivism. With regards to the one hour session, most of the students experienced a significant influence on their nature of science profile. Some showed evidence of reflection and change in attitudes, some reflected but did not change, and some others refused to reflect on the issue of nature of science.