The effects of pre- and in-service training on teachers’ understanding of the nature of science

Abstract

This study is based on Reconceptualized Family Resemblance Approach to Nature of Science (RFN), which is the reconceptualized notion of NOS from Family Resemblance Approach (FRA) (Erduran & Dagher, 2014; Kaya & Erduran, 2016b). This study aims to investigate teachers’ perceptions and understanding about the aims and values (AV), and social-institutional (SI) aspects of science, determine their educational applications and suggestions for teaching these aspects of NOS, determine their perceptions about their pre- and in-service teacher trainings, and also determine teachers’ informal learning environments. A total 220 teachers participated in the quantitative part of the study; then 12 of them were selected according to their scores for the qualitative part. A 26-item NOS Questionnaire, Five Yes-No Questions, and 18 semi-structured interview questions are data sources of this study. The quantitative data analysis indicated that there is a significant difference among teachers’ means considering their branches, but not for their teaching experiences, educational levels, and school types. Besides, the frequencies of 5 Yes-No Questions showed that the majority teachers do not think AV and SI categories of NOS are taught in pre-service and in-service teacher education. The qualitative data analysis showed that teachers have limited perceptions considering some categories of NOS. It was also found that even though teachers’ educational applications are inadequate for teaching NOS, their suggestions for teaching NOS in school science, pre- and in-service teacher education are valuable.