Teaching nature of science to pre-service early childhood teachers through an explicit reflective approach

One of the most important aims of science education is to help students comprehend the nature of science (NOS). However, it is clear from recent research that teaching practices in school that emphasize problem-solving, the development of cognitive abilities, and do not give importance the characteristics and development of scientific knowledge which continues to be used (Karakaş, 2009; Kattoula, Verma, & Martin-Hansen, 2009). The studies conducted also reveal the fact that high school (Dawkins & Dickerson, 2003; Liu, & Tsai, 2008; Moss, Abrams, & Robb, 2001; Rannikmae, Rannikmae, & Holbrook, 2006) and even PhD students (İrez, 2006) have naive/inadequate views about NOS and they have misconceptions in their minds about NOS. Some researchers such as Newton and Newton, Lederman and O’Malley suggest that “it may be more productive to address the problem earlier and at its roots than to remedy older students’ inadequate images about science” (Kang, Scharman, & Noh, 2005, p: 315). However, the studies of NOS were conducted mostly in primary, secondary and higher education levels and the young children were left out of the discussion because it is believed that they would not be able to conceptualize the NOS ideas (Akerson, Buck, Donnelly, Nargun-Joshi, & Weiland, 2001). The studies conducted recently reported that the children in the 3rd and 4th grades of primary education (Kawasaki, Herrenkohl, & Yeary, 2004), the first grade of primary education (Akerson & Volrich, 2006) and even the children at the age of pre-school (Akerson et al., 2001) would develop the conceptualization of NOS skills if it were taught with a suitable method. It is indisputable that the teachers play an important role while the students develop an appropriate NOS understanding (American Association for the Advancement of Science [AAAS], 1993; National Research Council [NRC], 1996). When Lederman (2006) analyzed the history of the studies conducted on NOS over 50 years ago, one of the generalizations he obtained was that unfortunately the view points of the in-service and/or pre-service teachers were not compatible with the contemporary concepts of scientific endeavor. If the teachers cannot achieve an appropriate NOS understanding, how can we expect them to help the children conceptualize their NOS ideas? (Akerson, Hanson, & Cullen, 2007).

This condition made popular the endeavors of in-service and pre-service teachers to develop their NOS concepts. Various approaches were undertaken to develop the NOS viewpoints of in-service and pre-service teachers. It was determined that explicit reflective approach was a successful method to develop the views of the teachers about NOS (Abd-El Khalick & Akerson, 2004; Akerson, Abd-El Khalick, & Lederman, 2000; Akerson & Hanuscin, 2007; Bell, Lederman, & Abd-El-Khalick, 2000; Küçük, 2008; Schwartz, Lederman, Khishfe, Lederman, Matthews, & Liu, 2002). When the NOS courses designed for the teachers were analyzed, what attracted me was that the target groups of the courses were usually in-service and/or pre-service primary and/or science teachers. Both the children of pre-school education and their teachers stayed away from the NOS researches. The variables such as how the courses changed the NOS understandings of the participants, how the participant teachers taught NOS in real class context after the course, how the NOS concepts of the students of these teachers changed were generally analyzed in the researches of designing NOS courses for the teachers. What the teachers who took the NOS course felt after the course was not paid attention very much. Because of all these reasons, the aim of this study is to teach the NOS to pre-service early childhood teachers with explicit reflective approach. The second purpose of the study is to evaluate the course based on the views of the student teachers and understand what they felt in the course.

1.1 Nature of Science

Although there is no universal definition of NOS agreed upon; NOS generally attributes to scientific epistemology, science as a way of knowing or the values and the beliefs existing in the nature of development of scientific knowledge (Lederman, 1992). It is undisputable that today K-12 students will be able to achieve some aspects of NOS. Five aspects of NOS emphasized by AAAS (1993), NRC (1996) and National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) (2000) were emphasized in this study. These elements consist of the following: scientific knowledge is tentative (subject to change), scientific knowledge is empirical (based on and/or derived from observations of the natural world), scientific investigation is theory driven (influenced by scientists’ background and experiences), partly the product of human imagination and creativity (involves the invention of explanation) and the difference between observation and inference (scientific knowledge is partly a function of each).

1.2 Explicit Reflective NOS Instruction

Explicit reflective approach was first introduced by Abd-El Khalick, Bell and Lederman (1998) and then expanded and refined in a set of later studies (Akerson et al., 2000; Akerson et al., 2007; Akerson, Morrison, & McDuffie, 2006; Akerson & Volrich, 2006; Khishfe & Abd-El-Khalick, 2002; Khisfe, 2008; Küçük, 2006; Küçük, 2008). Within this framework, the label ‘explicit’ is curricular in nature while the label ‘reflective’ has instructional implications. The label explicit should not be equated didactic or direct instruction. The label explicit emphasize the learning about NOS should be planned intentionally as learning science concept or content, complex science theories, and development of scientific process skills. In the other words explicit approach is against of students would automatically develop better NOS conceptions as a by-product of engagement in science process skills instruction. It is possible that can be preferred different pedagogical approaches including those that are active, student-centered, collaborative, and/or inquiry-oriented in nature (Abd-El-Khalick & Akerson, 2009).

The ‘reflective’ component of the explicit–reflective approach to NOS designed to encourage the learners to look at their own science learning experiences from the epistemological framework (Abd-El-Khalick & Akerson, 2009). Abd-El Khalick and his colleague have fulfilled this component of approach it as structured and unstructured, written and oral exercises. Oral reflections are usually assigned during and after explicit instruction. With reflective writing assignments, students are given the opportunity to reflect in writing. In reflective writing assignments, a text containing aspects of the NOS in the education environment is usually prepared. Students are asked which of the NOS aspects are contained in the text (Akerson et al., 2000).