The effect of a science methods course on the philosophical view of science among elementary education majors

Barufaldi, James P.; Bethel, Lowell J.; Lamb, William G.

doi:10.1002/tea.3660140404

Cited by 40 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…Miranda, as a new teacher, was able to change her views and practice at the same rate as Carrie, who had the most experience, and Charlotte, who was also experienced, but at a lesser degree. Similar to what has been found in other studies with preservice (Abell & Smith, 1994;Barufaldi, Bethel, & Lamb, 1977;Bianchini & Colburn, 2000;Harty, Samuel, & Andersen, 1991) and inservice (Fleury & Bentley, 1991;Pomeroy, 1993) teachers, at the start of the project, all of our teachers held inadequate views of most target elements of NOS, and none emphasized NOS in their science instruction.…”

Section: Changes In Nos Views and Explicit Nos Teaching Practicessupporting

confidence: 85%

Teaching nature of science through inquiry: Results of a 3‐year professional development program

2006

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This study assessed the influence of a 3-year professional development program on elementary teachers' views of nature of science (NOS), instructional practice to promote students' appropriate NOS views, and the influence of participants' instruction on elementary student NOS views. Using the VNOS-B and associated interviews the researchers tracked the changes in NOS views of teacher participants throughout the professional development program. The teachers participated in explicitreflective activities, embedded in a program that emphasized scientific inquiry and inquiry-based instruction, to help them improve their own elementary students' views of NOS. Elementary students were interviewed using the VNOS-D to track changes in their NOS views, using classroom observations to note teacher influences on student ideas. Analysis of the VNOS-B and VNOS-D showed that teachers and most grades of elementary students showed positive changes in their views of NOS. The teachers also improved in their science pedagogy, as evidenced by analysis of their teaching. Implications for teacher professional development programs are made. ß

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Section: Changes In Nos Views and Explicit Nos Teaching Practicessupporting

confidence: 85%

Teaching nature of science through inquiry: Results of a 3‐year professional development program

2006

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“…This is unlike implicit approaches that typically emphasize the “doing” of science, but neglect to address instructional objectives targeting learners' understandings of foundational aspects of scientific practice (i.e., knowledge about scientific inquiry). In this paradigm, “doing science” is seen as a sufficient vehicle to help students “know science.” A body of research that spans decades (e.g., Abd‐El‐Khalick, ; Barufaldi, Bethel, & Lamb, ; Haukoos & Penick, ; Riley, ; Scharmann & Harris, ; Spears & Zollman, ; among others) has indicated that these implicit approaches are not sufficient for improving students' and teachers' understandings of NOS or SI. In general, we echo the sentiments of Sandoval and Reiser () in that “[p]lacing these epistemic aspects of scientific practice in the foreground of inquiry may help students to understand and better conduct inquiry, as well as provide a context to overtly examine the epistemological commitments underlying it” (p. 346).…”

Section: Scientific Inquirymentioning

confidence: 99%

Meaningful assessment of learners' understandings about scientific inquiry-The views about scientific inquiry (VASI) questionnaire

et al. 2013

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Helping students develop informed views about scientific inquiry (SI) has been and continues to be a goal of K‐12 science education, as evidenced in various reform documents. Nevertheless, research focusing on understandings of SI has taken a perceptible backseat to that which focuses on the “doing” of inquiry. We contend that this is partially a function of the typical conflation of scientific inquiry with nature of science (NOS), and is also attributable to the lack of a readily accessible instrument to provide a meaningful assessment of learners' views of SI. This article (a) outlines the framework of scientific inquiry that undergirds the Views About Scientific Inquiry (VASI) questionnaire; (b) describes the development of the VASI, in part derived from the Views of Scientific Inquiry (VOSI) questionnaire; (c) presents evidence for the validity and reliability of the VASI; (d) discusses the use of the VASI and associated interviews to elucidate views of the specific aspects of SI that it attempts to assess; and (e) discusses the utility of the resulting rich‐descriptive views of SI that the VASI provides for informing both further research efforts and classroom practice. The trend in recent reform documents, unfortunately, ignores much of the research on NOS and SI and implicitly presumes that the “doing” of inquiry is sufficient for developing understandings of SI. The VASI serves as a tool in further discrediting this contention and provides both the classroom teacher and the researcher a more powerful means for assessing learners' conceptions about essential aspects of SI, consonant with the vision set forth in the recently released Next Generation Science Standards (Achieve, Inc., 2013). © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 51: 65–83, 2014

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“…There is empirical support for success in enhancing preservice teachers' conceptions of NOS through elementary science methods courses (e.g., Barufaldi, Bethel, & Lamb, 1977;Shapiro, 1996), particularly when using an explicit reflective approach to help teachers develop more accurate conceptions of these NOS aspects (Abd-El-Khalick & Akerson, 2004;Akerson & Abd-El-Khalick, 2003;Akerson, AbdEl-Khalick, & Lederman, 2000). Recent work indicates, however, that attainment and retention of NOS views is difficult for preservice teachers (Akerson, Morrison, & Roth McDuffie, 2006;Lederman & Lederman, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationships of preservice early childhood teachers’ cultural values, ethical and cognitive developmental levels, and Views of Nature of Science

Akerson

Buzzelli

2007

J Elem Sci Edu

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This study explored relationships between preservice early childhood teachers' views of nature of science (NOS), cognitive developmental levels, and their cultural values. Using the Views of Nature of Science Questionnaire (VNOS-B) and interviews, we assessed views of NOS. The Learning Context Questionnaire (LCQ) was used to determine the cognitive levels. Using the Schwartz Values Inventory, we determined cultural values. We analyzed the preservice teachers' views of NOS by searching for patterns in responses to the VNOS-B by Perry position on the LCQ. We used SPSS to find significant correlations between cultural values and associated subscales'cognitive levels. We found that though preservice teachers at all Perry positions held misconceptions about NOS, there were patterns of views by position; those at the position of dualism described their views in terms of one right truth, while those at the multiplicity position described their views in terms of analyzing evidence from many different interpretations.

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The effect of a science methods course on the philosophical view of science among elementary education majors

Cited by 40 publications

References 1 publication

Teaching nature of science through inquiry: Results of a 3‐year professional development program

Teaching nature of science through inquiry: Results of a 3‐year professional development program

Meaningful assessment of learners' understandings about scientific inquiry-The views about scientific inquiry (VASI) questionnaire

Relationships of preservice early childhood teachers’ cultural values, ethical and cognitive developmental levels, and Views of Nature of Science

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