To be able to form and develop competencies with regard to the nature of science (NOS) for students, the teachers must have appropriate conceptions about NOS. Therefore, this study explored levels of conceptions about the nature of science of future physics teachers who have experienced two different physics teachers-education curricula using the…

The goal of this study was to examine the way preservice science teachers depict and develop their understanding of nature of science (NOS), from the perspective of the family resemblance approach (FRA). FRA defines NOS as a Cognitive-Epistemic and Social-Institutional system. Appling the dual-analytic approach via reflective drawing analysis, we…

This study explores the integration of STEM principles into chemistry education through the redesign of the topic Chemical Reactions for initial teacher training. The aim was to develop and evaluate an innovative teaching module that fosters key competences--knowledge, skills, and attitudes--via student-centred, context-based, and…

Although laboratory work is considered a significant factor in helping students develop their science process skills and cultivate alternative knowledge construction, there are still gaps in the selection, integration, and implementation of the basic elements in physics laboratories. In this study, three modified guided discovery and conventional…

In this study, applications based on socioscientific subject-oriented science, technology, society and environmental education were carried out. The aim of the study is to determine the views of pre-service science teachers, who are engaged with the applications, about science, technology and society and to determine whether these views are…

A recent framework on nature of science (NOS) is the Family Resemblance Approach (FRA). FRA presents NOS as a cognitive-epistemic and social-institutional system with a set of categories: aims and values, scientific methods, scientific practices, scientific knowledge and social-institutional aspects of science. Although FRA has been problematised…

This study took place in an introductory science inquiry course for preservice elementary school teachers as a supplement to lessons on critical thinking. The correspondence of Charles Darwin was used to provide historical context to nature of science concepts of the sociocultural embeddedness of science, the subjective and reflective nature of…

This study aimed to examine the development of pre-service science teachers' views of the targeted nature of science (NOS) aspects, which are considered more difficult to develop than other aspects. This study was grounded by conceptual change and experiential learning theory. A multiple comparative case study approach was used to explore…

Teachers need an understanding of the nature of science (NOS) to enable them to incorporate NOS into their teaching of science. The current study examines the usefulness of a strategy for challenging or changing teachers' understandings of NOS. The teachers who participated in this study were 10 initial teacher education chemistry students and six…

In this study, diagnostic worksheets adopted from the Royal Society of Chemistry and microscale chemistry activities were employed to investigate teacher trainees' understanding of chemical compounds. The framework for the study was hinged on the constructivist theory. Participants in this study were 36 1st-year undergraduate teacher trainees of…

This article presents a qualitative study, descriptive-interpretive in profile, of the effectiveness in learning about the nature of science (NOS) of an activity relating to the historical controversy between Pasteur and Liebig on fermentation. The activity was implemented during a course for pre-service secondary science teachers (PSSTs)…

Teachers' beliefs shape their daily instruction and the materials presented to students. The personal views of educators are especially relevant when socioscientific issues are involved. Preservice and novice teachers' mastery of the nature of science (NOS) and personal beliefs in and out of the classroom influence their worldviews and classroom…

This study investigated the understanding of diffusion, osmosis and particle theory of matter concepts among 192 pre-service science teachers in Saudi Arabia using a 17-item two-tier multiple-choice diagnostic test. The data analysis showed that the pre-service teachers' understanding of osmosis and diffusion concepts was mildly correlated with…

This investigation examined outcomes associated with nature of science (NOS) instruction along a science-content context continuum on the development of secondary preservice science teachers' conceptions of and plans to teach NOS, moving beyond the common dichotomy of contextualized versus noncontextualized instruction. Participants comprised six…

The purpose of this study was to investigate epistemological predictors of nature of science understandings of 281 prospective biology teachers surveyed using the Epistemological Beliefs Scale Regarding Science and the Nature of Science Scale. The findings on multiple linear regression showed that understandings about definition of science and…