Manman Wang, Shoubao Gao, Weiling Gui, Jianqiang Ye, Shuaishuai Mi
{"title":"Investigation of Pre-service Teachers’ Conceptions of the Nature of Science Based on the LDA Model","authors":"Manman Wang, Shoubao Gao, Weiling Gui, Jianqiang Ye, Shuaishuai Mi","doi":"10.1007/s11191-022-00332-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11191-022-00332-4","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h2>Abstract\u0000</h2><div><p>This study used the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic model to analyze pre-service teachers’ views on the nature of science (NOS). This approach can be used to automate the classification of documents, and at the same time, the researcher does not need to deduce with a NOS framework prior to evaluation. Participants were 155 pre-service teachers studying at the Shandong Normal University in China. To gather our data, we used an open questionnaire, namely, the Views of Nature of Science Questionnaire—Form C (VNOS-C). LDA topic modeling was used to classify the document, which was divided into 12 topics. By comparing the LDA topic modeling results with the theoretical framework behind the VNOS-C questionnaire, we categorized these 12 topics into eight descriptive aspects of the NOS: The Empirical Nature of Scientific Knowledge, Observation, Inference, and Theoretical Entities in Science, Scientific Theories and Laws, The Theory-Laden Nature of Scientific Knowledge, The Social and Cultural Embeddedness of Scientific Knowledge, The Myth of The Scientific Method, The Tentative Nature of Scientific Knowledge, and The Nature of Scientific Theory. The results show that pre-service teachers usually hold naive or mixed views of the NOS. In addition, each aspect of NOS is not independent of each other but interrelated and influencing each other. In the future, more consideration can be given to the relationship between each aspect of NOS.</p></div></div>","PeriodicalId":56374,"journal":{"name":"Science & Education","volume":"32 3","pages":"589 - 615"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4235747","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Climate Change and Political Controversy in the Science Classroom","authors":"Molly Trendell Nation, Allan Feldman","doi":"10.1007/s11191-022-00330-6","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11191-022-00330-6","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Climate change science is complex and perceived to be controversial in nature by some stakeholders. Yet from the perspective of educators and policy makers, climate change science is an important topic to be taught in secondary science education. The presence of controversy can influence teachers’ instructional decisions and cause confusion about the science of climate change. This study examines the complex nature between science teacher beliefs and the impact on their instructional practices of climate change–centered curriculum. Findings from the study suggest teachers have strong beliefs about the causes and implications of climate change. However, due to the controversial nature of the topic, the current US political climate, and fear of resistance from stakeholders, teachers did not espouse these beliefs within their instruction of the curriculum and instead remained “neutral” when teaching about climate change.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":56374,"journal":{"name":"Science & Education","volume":"31 6","pages":"1567 - 1583"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11191-022-00330-6.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4176067","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Investigation of Preservice Science Teachers’ Nature of Science Understanding and Decision Making on Socioscientific Issue through the Fractal Model","authors":"Elif Ece Adal, Jale Cakiroglu","doi":"10.1007/s11191-022-00319-1","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11191-022-00319-1","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h2>Abstract\u0000</h2><div><p>The paper reports a qualitative study to reveal how preservice science teachers' decision making (DM) processes on socioscientific issue (SSI) in a referendum case compare between unsophisticated (Group U) and sophisticated (Group S) views in terms of nature of science (NOS) understandings. Firstly, pre-study was conducted with focus group interviews with pre-service science teachers. With the findings, one-on-one semi-structured in-depth interviews of the main study for DM on SSI, the artificial meat was developed. In the main study, 12 participants’ responses were analyzed, and a new DM model named the Fractal Model of DM which reflects real-life situation DM process, especially referendum case, was constructed. In DM, NOS lens usages of five NOS aspects about creativity and imagination, observation and inference, empirical-basis, subjectivity, and social and cultural embeddedness and 23 other lens usages such as animal rights (morality), economic, and risk factor were detected and explained through the fractal model. Findings showed that there is a hidden and complex effect of NOS understandings about tentativeness of scientific knowledge on DM. With multiple lens usage, each participant had multi-perspective considerations in DM. While Group S used NOS lenses mainly parallel with their NOS understandings, Group U used them in a more complicated way.</p></div></div>","PeriodicalId":56374,"journal":{"name":"Science & Education","volume":"32 2","pages":"529 - 565"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11191-022-00319-1.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4855109","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lin Lin, Qianru Song, Jingying Wang, Tao Hu, Xiaomei Ping, Yizhou Ling
{"title":"History of Science in Two Recent Versions of High School Physics Textbooks in China","authors":"Lin Lin, Qianru Song, Jingying Wang, Tao Hu, Xiaomei Ping, Yizhou Ling","doi":"10.1007/s11191-021-00307-x","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11191-021-00307-x","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The history of science has a unique value to teaching, and textbooks play an important role in permeating the history of science in science courses. This study aims to compare the presentation of history of science in two versions of high school physics textbooks in China. We selected the 2019 edition of the national and local textbooks as samples. The revised Leite’s checklist is used to conduct statistics and comparative analysis on the history of science content in the two versions of textbooks, referred to as the PEP and Luke versions described in more detail in the paper. The results show that, in terms of the quantity and presentation of the history of science, the PEP version contains more history of science, while the Luke version presents the historical content more intuitively. In terms of the type and organization of the history of science, the Luke version describes scientists and the type of evolution in more detail. In the presentation of the history of science, both of the two versions of textbooks are mainly based on texts written by textbook authors, supplemented by pictures of scientists and instruments. In the description of the contexts of the history of science, both tend to use the scientific context to present the history of science. In terms of the status of the history of science content, it mostly acts as a fundamental role in the Luke version while plays a complementary one in the PEP version. As for the learning activities related to the history of science, both tend to set up normal-level activities. The two versions of textbooks are relatively poor in the internal consistency of the textbooks with respect to the historical information and interdisciplinary activity design. Only Compulsory Book 1 of PEP version has the content of history of science as bibliography, and both of the two versions of textbooks seldom have history of science books as its bibliography.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":56374,"journal":{"name":"Science & Education","volume":"32 1","pages":"101 - 121"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4819356","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Challenging the “Science from nowhere” perspective in the classroom","authors":"Douglas Cardinot, Cristiano Moura, Andreia Guerra","doi":"10.1007/s11191-021-00311-1","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11191-021-00311-1","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h2>Abstract\u0000</h2><div><p>Studies in the field of science education have discussed using historical approaches. Although previous studies have shown the potential advantages to addressing national sciences in the classroom in countries underrepresented in the history of science, there are still few initiatives in this direction. Thus, this paper aims to explore a historical case study related to teaching Brazilian national science in a high school classroom to contribute to this line of research and evaluate how classroom dialogue and production relate to specific aspects of the historical case. The present study uses an adapted action research methodology with historical research conducted in an integrated manner with the case study in the classroom. The results showed that this adapted methodology could relate content to students’ contexts by leading them to engage and identify with the historical case and the activity itself. Critical comments on this methodology are also presented. Using Brazilian science as the historical case study revealed some themes partially related to the Brazilian context. However, science content was more relevant to the students’ context. Finally, some directions for future research are proposed, both for studies using the methodology presented and research on using the history of national sciences in countries underrepresented in the hegemonic history of science.</p></div></div>","PeriodicalId":56374,"journal":{"name":"Science & Education","volume":"32 2","pages":"327 - 359"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11191-021-00311-1.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4719988","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Teaching What Is “Real” About Science","authors":"Sarah L. Ferguson","doi":"10.1007/s11191-021-00308-w","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11191-021-00308-w","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Discourse about public perception of science is often positioned as a dichotomy between trust in scientific evidence and scientists as experts, versus critiques of the limitations of scientific knowledge and a mistrust in scientists as biased professionals and political agents. However, this dichotomy becomes something of a false argument, as our tendency to look for the “right” answer in these arguments often gets in the way of finding a balancing point in which both of these positions could be held in productive tension. The purpose of the present article is to lay out the argument that society can both trust in scientific evidence and question scientific bias in the same space, holding these two seemingly opposite positions in productive tension, and that we should teach students to do the same. Critical realism is presented as an ontology and epistemology to frame science education, and focus on the development of critical scientific literacy by teaching students what is real and what is arbitrary about science. Recommendations for science education are outlined, grounded in critical realism and connected to current education research and principles of the nature of science.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":56374,"journal":{"name":"Science & Education","volume":"31 6","pages":"1651 - 1669"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11191-021-00308-w.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4571709","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
William W. Cobern, Betty AJ Adams, Brandy A-S. Pleasants, Andrew Bentley, Robert Kagumba
{"title":"Do We Have a Trust Problem? Exploring Undergraduate Student Views on the Tentativeness and Trustworthiness of Science","authors":"William W. Cobern, Betty AJ Adams, Brandy A-S. Pleasants, Andrew Bentley, Robert Kagumba","doi":"10.1007/s11191-021-00292-1","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11191-021-00292-1","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Science includes the fundamental attributes of durability and uncertainty; hence, we teach about the “tentative yet durable” nature of science. Public discourse can be different, where one hears both confidence about “settled science” and doubts about “just theories.” The latter observation gives rise to the possibility that emphasis on learning the tentative nature of science offers some people the actionable option of declining to accept canonical science. Our paper reports the findings from initial and replication exploratory studies involving about 500 preservice, elementary/middle school teacher education students at a large Midwestern public university. Using a survey method that included opportunities for student comments, the study tested hypotheses about confidence in the veracity, durability, tentativeness, and trustworthiness of science. We found that most students embrace noncontroversial science as correct, and that almost all embraced the tentative nature of science regardless of what they thought about controversial topics. However, when asked about the trustworthiness of science, many students were not willing to say that they trust scientific knowledge. Even students strongly supportive of science, including controversial science, responded similarly. And why did they say that science is not trustworthy? The explanation echoed by many students was that scientific knowledge is tentative. Our paper concludes with implications for instruction and research. Our findings suggest that it would be prudent for science educators to increase instructional focus on the relationship between data and evidence that leads to the durability of scientific knowledge. Future research needs to thoroughly investigate the public interpretation of what we teach about the nature and characteristics of science, and for the implications it might have on how scientific knowledge is or is not incorporated in the development and implementation of public policy.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":56374,"journal":{"name":"Science & Education","volume":"31 5","pages":"1209 - 1238"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11191-021-00292-1.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4384153","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Socioscientific Issues Thinking and Action in the Midst of Science-in-the-Making","authors":"Benjamin C. Herman, Michael P. Clough, Asha Rao","doi":"10.1007/s11191-021-00306-y","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11191-021-00306-y","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Like all SSI, the COVID-19 pandemic requires decisions that are contentious, involve scientific thinking, and vary across social groups. This investigation determined how perceptions about COVID-19 science and sociocultural membership associate with 557 university biology students’: (1) COVID-19 behaviors after stay-at-home orders and (2) support for future societal COVID-19 responses. Hierarchical moderated multiple regression analyses demonstrate that students’ COVID-19 mitigating actions after stay-at-home orders were significantly and positively associated with, in order of importance: (1) higher levels of COVID-19 spread prevention knowledge; (2) espousing more liberal, as opposed to conservative, political orientations; (3) being female; and (4) increased disbelief of COVID-19 misinformation/disinformation claims. Furthermore, the students’ political orientation moderated the relationship between their trust in scientific models to guide COVID-19 decisions and their personal COVID-19 actions, with trust in scientific models to guide COVID-19 decision-making being a significant positive predictor of moderate, conservative, and very conservative student groups’ COVID-19 mitigating actions. Conversely, there was no association between trust in scientific models to guide COVID-19 decision-making and very liberal and liberal students’ conducting COVID-19 actions. Hierarchical moderated multiple regression analyses revealed that students’ support for societal-wide COVID-19 mitigating measures going forward is positively associated with, in order of importance: (1) espousing more liberal, as opposed to conservative, political orientations; (2) higher levels of COVID-19 spread prevention knowledge; (3) increased disbelief of COVID-19 misinformation/disinformation claims; (4) trust in scientific models for guiding COVID-19 decision-making; and (5) beliefs that factors beyond science and technology (e.g., personal actions) are necessary for pandemic resolution. Implications discussed include the importance for helping students analyze how sociocultural membership, personal biases, and trust in science interactively influence socioscientific decision-making. Further recommendations discussed include how science communication strategies must account for sociocultural variance in order to optimize trust in science and reasoned and responsible action.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":56374,"journal":{"name":"Science & Education","volume":"31 5","pages":"1105 - 1139"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4338840","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jesús Piqueras, Marianne Achiam, Susanna Edvall, Charlotte Ek
{"title":"Ethnicity and Gender in Museum Representations of Human Evolution","authors":"Jesús Piqueras, Marianne Achiam, Susanna Edvall, Charlotte Ek","doi":"10.1007/s11191-021-00314-y","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11191-021-00314-y","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h2>Abstract </h2><div><p>Scientific representations of human evolution often embrace stereotypes of ethnicity and gender that are more aligned with socio-cultural discourses and norms than empirical facts. The present study has two connected aims: to understand how ethnicity and gender are represented in an exhibition about human evolution, and to understand how that representation influences learners’ meaning making. First, we analysed an exhibition with realistic reconstructions of early hominids in a museum of natural history, to identify dualisms related to the representation of gender and ethnicity that have been recognised in research. Then, we studied the processes of meaning making in the exhibition during an out-of-school educational activity, in which groups of teenaged students explore and discuss the hominid reconstructions. Our results show that the exhibition displays human evolution in the form of a linear sequence from a primitive African prehistory to a more advanced European present. Behind this depiction of human evolution lies stereotypic notions of ethnicity and gender: notions that were incorporated into the students’ meaning making during the educational activity. When students noticed aspects of ethnicity, their meaning making did not dispute the messages represented in the exhibition; these were accepted as scientific facts. Conversely, when the students noticed aspects related to gender, they often adopted a more critical stance and challenged the representations from different perspectives. We discuss the implications of our findings for exhibit design and evolution education more generally. In doing so, we offer our perspectives on the design of learning environments to salvage inherently sexist, racist, imperial science.</p></div></div>","PeriodicalId":56374,"journal":{"name":"Science & Education","volume":"31 6","pages":"1517 - 1540"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11191-021-00314-y.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4249872","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Exploratory Considerations in Chemistry Education—Didactic Modelling for Complexity in Students’ Discussions","authors":"Cecilia Dudas, Carl-Johan Rundgren, Iann Lundegård","doi":"10.1007/s11191-021-00316-w","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11191-021-00316-w","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Research has shown the importance of dealing with real-life issues and of enabling student encounters with complexity in chemistry education in order to increase student participation. Therefore, this study aims to analyse how complexity evolves in students’ discussions and how this complexity relates to aspects of tentativeness in chemistry. In the study, we analyse how a previously developed didactic model can be refined from the students’ considerations evolving from the present context. The study was conducted as an in situ study in one upper-secondary school. Students’ discussions were recorded on video. The recordings were transcribed and analysed using deliberative educational questions. Two different kinds of considerations emerged in the students’ discussions: <i>factual and exploratory considerations.</i> While factual considerations are an important element of chemistry education, students also need to encounter exploratory considerations. The study proposes a didactic model useful for teachers in didactic analysis and design of activities aiming to support students to unfold complexity through exploratory considerations. One implication is to base activities on real-life issues in order to invite the unpredictability needed for experiencing complexity and the exploratory nature of chemistry. These issues enable students to experience aspects of tentativeness in chemistry and thereby increase their understanding of NOS and chemistry as a knowledge building practice. Furthermore, this might also increase student participation in chemistry education.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":56374,"journal":{"name":"Science & Education","volume":"32 2","pages":"481 - 498"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11191-021-00316-w.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4120375","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}