Students’ reflections on the nature of science (NOS)

Abstract

This paper presents six students’ (age 13–16) understanding of the nature of science. Understanding the nature of science is considered central to an individual's ability to make informed decisions and choices when it comes to science-based issues. The students participated in a three-year intervention focusing on inquiry-based learning and the nature of science, guided by the Norwegian science curriculum. The students formed and tested hypotheses, were engaged in developing experiments, wrote research reports and took part extensively in evaluation of evidence. During each inquiry task, students were encouraged to express their ideas about Nature of Science (NOS). Data were gathered from six students who participated in interviews about NOS each semester in 8th, 9th and 10th grade (except for the fall of the 10th grade). The results show that the students developed an increased understanding of several key aspects of the nature of science while also moving towards a constructivist understanding of science. However, despite engaging in scientific interpretation, none of the students highlighted the fundamental role of making inferences in science. While the students also used several scientific principles and values in their reflection around scientific issues, hypotheses and arguments, they did not acknowledge these principles and values as fundamental aspects of science itself. The results support previous findings regarding the importance of helping students to link key aspects of the nature of science to their own experiences from participation in in inquiry-based activities.