The Relationship between Student Science Teachers’ Views on Nature of Science and Classroom Practice: Is There Any?

Abstract

The present study investigated the relationship between student science teachers’ views on Nature of Science and their views on the importance of teaching Nature of Science. It is a case study in which qualitative methods and descriptive statistics are used. The sample consisted of 23 student science teachers who attended a faculty course on Didactics of Physics and participated voluntarily. Preliminary findings showed a moderate relationship between students’ views on Nature of Science issues and their classroom practice, particularly regarding “tenets” such as the tentative character of science and sociocultural milieu. When it comes to more epistemological issues, such as the difference between a theory and a law, then student teachers have considerable conceptual difficulties and they also find the particular “tenets” less important for a school science context.