Understanding Levels of Prospective Science Teachers on the Nature of Science

The aim of this study is to determine whether the understandings levels of prospective science teachers on the nature of science are dependent on differences in grade level and gender. This study utilizes VOSTS scale, which was developed by Aikenhead and Ryan, and adapted by Chan in order to determine viewpoints of prospective teachers on the nature of science. Eighteen multiple-choice questions from this scale were translated and adapted into Turkish from English by researchers, who also conducted a preliminary work on the validity and reliability of the scale. The adapted scale was applied to 80 prospective science teachers, who were not included in the sample of this study and the reliability coefficient of the scale was found to be 0.81. Then the scale is applied to 201 prospective teachers who are enrolled in the science education program. The statistical analysis of the results demonstrated that while views of the prospective science teachers on nature of science are not significantly correlated with differences in grade level and gender, there were significant variations among these views. In this study, it was determined that prospective teachers had certain misconceptions on nature of science with respect to specific issues including hierarchical relationships between concepts of hypothesis, theory, law, and universal scientific method; that they relied predominantly on positivist paradigm; and that they espoused the traditional approach to science in understanding and interpreting nature of science.