Student, Teacher, and Scientist Views of the Scientific Enterprise: An Epistemic Network Re-analysis

Abstract

There is substantial research in science education about students’, teachers’, and scientists’ views of nature of science (NOS). Many studies have used NOS frameworks that focus on particular ideas such as tentativeness of scientific knowledge and cultural embeddedness of science. In this paper, we investigate NOS from the perspective of the Family Resemblance Approach (FRA) which considers clusters of ideas about science in terms of categories that offer a comprehensive analytical lens to studying NOS views. The empirical study re-analyzes NOS views obtained from 7 and 8th grade students, science teachers, and scientists using the FRA lens. Statements from all three groups were obtained using a free-write questionnaire on nature of knowledge and nature of knowing. The statements were reclassified using the FRA framework. Epistemic network analysis (ENA) was applied to the statements produced by each group of participants, and the resulting network models were interpreted and compared. The results show that student and teacher network models possessed no central idea, and more tangible ideas about science were frequently connected. Scientist network models showed more connections across their statements which indicate a higher degree of agreement and coherence among a variety of ideas compared to student and teacher network models. The paper discusses the findings as well as the methodological contributions, and concludes with implications for future research.

A Systematic Review of Research on Family Resemblance Approach to Nature of Science in Science Education

“…Although some research is available in this area (e.g. Peters-Burton et al, 2022 ), the potential of FRA for tracing of students’ as well as teachers’ progression given particular interventions of learning has not yet been explored. Finally, one of the outcomes of our review was the identification of research that focused on a range of research instruments in identifying NOS understandings including, for example the use of drawings in tracing pre-service teachers’ drawings about NOS (Erduran et al, 2020 ).…”

“…Peters-Burton & Baynard, 2013 ; Cheung & Winterbottom, 2021 ) and it has been used in previous studies on FRA (e.g. Caramaschi et al, 2022 ; Author, 2020 ; Peters-Burton et al, 2022 ). ENA visualizes the co-occurrences between two codes in a stanza (Shaffer, 2017 ), which was defined as one single study identified in the systematic review procedure.…”

Mechanisms and technologies for fostering the research and innovative capability in university teachers

“…The research capability of a university teacher is the ability to contribute to the existing body of knowledge and actively participate in research activities (Peters-Burton, Dagher & Erduran, 2023). In addition to their duties as instructors, educators are encouraged to explore new frontiers of knowledge in their respective disciplines.…”