Teaching the Nature of Science, Part II
In the first part of my blog post, I described my doctoral research into the Nature of Science (NOS). In this part I’ll get into how I’ve been trying to teach it to my secondary school students and share some of their reactions. Research suggests that inquiry, historical, and contemporary case studies can be used to teach different and complementary aspects of NOS understanding[i], particularly when made explicit[ii] and students have time to reflect upon and revisit NOS conceptions, so I now clearly and unambiguously include all three types of activities in every course.
[i] Allchin, D., Andersen, H. M., & Nielsen, K. (2014). Complementary approaches to teaching nature of science: Integrating student inquiry, historical cases, and contemporary cases in classroom practice. Science Education, 98(3), 461-486.
[ii] Price, R., & Perez, K. (2018). Many paths toward discovery: A module for teaching how science works. Journal of College Science Teaching, 47(3), 78-87.
McComas, W., Clough, M., & Nouri, N. (2020). Nature of Science and Classroom Practice: A Review of the Literature with Implications for Effective NOS Instruction. In Nature of Science in Science Instruction (pp. 67-111). Cham: Springer.
Clough, M., Herman, B., & Olson, J. (2020). Preparing Science Teachers to Overcome Common Obstacles and Teach Nature of Science. In Nature of Science in Science Instruction (pp. 239-251). Cham: Springer.
May 2023
Course Summary
I teach NOS similarly from grade 9 to 12, regardless of pathway. A few large projects related to historical or contemporary cases studies, with choice of topics researched in depth. Personal Action Plans for curricular topics are designed with an expectation that students act on their plans outside of school because they choose a topic that matters to them with attainable goals. For investigations, most involve choice of activity with projects such as safety videos and science fairs, looking at specific topics in depth and considering scientific processes with mainly student direction, rather than many topics in breadth which might require more teacher direction to “get through them all”.
Click a button below to see a selection of student reflections on their understanding of how science works, related to either historical case studies, contemporary case studies, or investigations performed in science.