The goal of all reform documents in science education is to target scientific literacy. Toward that end, having students understand the nature of science (NOS) is a critical component. As it turns out, the development of NOS conceptions is a cognitive learning outcome. Therefore, an explicit approach needs to be promoted and emphasized in the…

A large number of articles in the field of science education reflect on scientific literacy as the main goal of science education (SE), although often with varying viewpoints. Nevertheless, researchers have begun to highlight subject-specific teaching practices that are expected to specifically enhance science subject teaching, including biology.…

Epistemological beliefs about science (EBAS) or beliefs about the nature of science knowledge, and how that knowledge is generated during inquiry, are an essential yet difficult to assess component of science literacy. Leveraging learning analytics to capture and analyze student practices in simulated or game-based authentic science activities is…

This study examines the causal reasoning that university students use to explain how dc circuits work. We analyze how students use the concepts of electric field and potential difference in their explanatory models of dc circuits, and what kinds of reasoning they use at the macroscopic and microscopic levels in their explanations. This knowledge…

Science is of critical importance to daily life in a knowledge society and has a significant influence on many everyday decisions. As scientific problems increase in their number and complexity, so do the challenges facing the public in understanding these issues. Our objective is to focus on 3 of those challenges: the challenge of reasoning about…

The study investigated the relationship of high school students' understandings about nature of science (NOS) aspects and their argumentation skills in relation to two controversial socioscientific issues. The study was conducted in five schools selected from different geographical areas in Beirut, Lebanon. Participants were 219 grade 11 students.…

In this paper, we describe the Scientific Habits of Mind Survey (SHOMS) developed to explore public, science teachers' and scientists' understanding of habits of mind (HoM). The instrument contained 59 items, and captures the seven SHOM identified by Gauld. The SHOM was validated by administration to two cohorts of pre-service science teachers:…

Common forms of testing of student understanding of science content can be misleading about their understanding of the nature of scientific thinking. Observational astronomy integrated with related ideas of force and motion is a rich context to explore the correlation between student content knowledge and student understanding of the scientific…

At the start of their first semester, 35 college freshmen were given an interview probing (a) their differentiation of scientists' ideas from evidence, and hypotheses from theories; (b) their understanding of the inherent uncertainty of scientific knowledge; and (c) their reasoning about scientific controversies. The most common responses were in…

Argues that scientific literacy requires that students know how to apply scientific theories and that the skill of theory articulation has to be taught explicitly. Analysis of textbooks and tests indicates that this is not currently done. Offers Roger C. Schank's theory of explanation as a starting point to develop that skill. (Author/MDH)

Recently, the nature of science has enjoyed renewed attention in science education circles as a primary component of scientific literacy. This paper describes an investigation meant to assess the influence of a person's understanding of the nature of science on his or her decision-making regarding science- and technology-based issues, and to…