“It's the nature of the beast”: The influence of knowledge and intentions on learning and teaching nature of science*

Reneé Schwartz · Norman G. Lederman

378 citations0/0 files storedJournal of Research in Science Teaching

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Science Education and Pedagogy Mathematics Education and Teaching Techniques Evolution and Science Education

Abstract

Abstract This study examined the knowledge, intentions, and instructional practices of two beginning secondary science teachers as they learned the subject matter of nature of science (NOS) and attempted to teach NOS during their student teaching experience and during their first year of full‐time teaching. This is a case study comparison of two success stories. However, the reasons for and levels of success are as varied as the factors that influence teaching practice. Details of the participants' progression, along with descriptions of the challenges they faced in the learning and teaching of NOS offer insight into the complexity of the fulfillment of one's instructional intentions. The results of the study suggest that depth of NOS understanding, subject‐matter knowledge, and the perceived relationship between NOS and science subject matter affected the participants' learning and teaching of NOS. The views of NOS as an inherent part of all science content or as “the nature of the beast” facilitated the inclusion of NOS within traditional science content lessons. The participant with the more extensive science background, who also held well‐developed NOS views, was better able to address NOS throughout his teaching. His subject‐matter knowledge enabled him to use a variety of examples to enhance NOS instruction. The other participant's more limited subject‐matter knowledge and compartmentalized view of NOS seemed to inhibit her incorporation of relevant NOS topics within a traditional science content. The importance of subject‐matter knowledge, NOS knowledge, and NOS instruction intentions to the development of pedagogical content knowledge for NOS and the actualization of intentions in the classroom are discussed. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 39: 205–236, 2002

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References

1987Knowledge and Teaching:Foundations of the New Reform 1995National Science Education Standards 1998Teacher Efficacy: Its Meaning and Measure 1992Students' and teachers' conceptions of the nature of science: A review of the research 1996National Science Education Standards 2000Improving science teachers' conceptions of nature of science: a critical review of the literature 1998The nature of science and instructional practice: Making the unnatural natural 2002Examining Pedagogical Content Knowledge

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2013Learning and Teaching in the School Science Laboratory: An Analysis of Research, Theory, and Practice 2006Teaching nature of science through inquiry: Results of a 3‐year professional development program 2012Teaching With and About Nature of Science, and Science Teacher Knowledge Domains 2007Creativity in Science Education: Perspectives and Challenges for Developing School Science 2008Turkish grade 10 students' and science teachers' conceptions of nature of science: A national study

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