Darwin’s Book: On the Origin of Species

This essay is an interpretation of Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species. It focuses on the contents of the Origin as Darwin intended them to be understood and the background to the work, thus revealing the originality (or otherwise) of the work.     

Chinese Secondary School Science Teachers’ Understanding of the Nature of Science—Emerging from Their Views of Nature

The findings reported in this paper report on an investigation of Chinese people’s understanding of the nature of science in relation to their conceptualisations of Nature. As an exploratory and interpretive study, it uses semi-structured interviews with 25 Chinese secondary school science teachers. The paper first presents these teachers’ conceptualisations of Nature, which were mainly scientifically informed and showed a mixed influence of both traditional and modern Chinese ideas about Nature. Teachers’ functional understandings of the nature of science were then inferred from their conceptualisations of Nature and presented from three perspectives: that of science; the strategies and approaches to doing science; and, the status of scientific knowledge.     

Using Children’s Literature in the Middle School Science Class to Teach Nature of Science

Science & Education - In this study, we report the results of the content analysis of preservice middle school science teachers’ own written science storybooks and middle school female...     

Cases of Science Professors’ Use of Nature of Science

Study provides qualitative analysis of data that answers the following research question: how college science faculty teach science and NOS and incorporate aspects of NOS and the history of science into their undergraduate courses? Study concentrates on four cases and more specifically on three introductory science classes and on four instructors who taught those courses. These instructors were chosen as case studies to explore in greater detail what occurs inside introductory science courses in one particular higher institution in the Northeastern United States. Participants’ teaching styles are presented through a combined and detailed presentation of interview data and classroom observations supported with examples from their classroom activities. Constant comparative approach was used in the process of organizing and analyzing data. Findings revealed that participants preferred to use the traditional teacher-centered lecturing as their teaching style and whose main concern was to cover more content, develop the problem solving skills of their students, and who wanted to teach the fundamental principles of their subjects without paying special importance to the NOS aspects. The study also revealed that other variables of teaching science, such as large class size, lack of management and organizational skills, teaching experience, and instructors’ concerns for students’ abilities and motivation are more important for these scientists then teaching for understanding of NOS.     

Students’ Views of Nature of Science

Science & Education - Nature of science (NOS) is considered an important aspect of scientific literacy. Despite efforts in guiding school students to develop more adequate NOS views, little is...     

Impact of Chinese Culture on Pre-service Science Teachers’ Views of the Nature of Science

This study examines Chinese pre-service teachers’ (N?=?30) views on the nature of science (NOS) and how Chinese culture influences their views. Participants were from two teachers’ universities in eastern China. As an exploratory and interpretive study, a scenario-based interview approach was adopted. The results indicated that the participants held unique views about the five key aspects of NOS. Many participants have alternative and contemporary views of NOS, but few possess classical views. In fact, teachers adopted features of the Confucian Doctrine of the Mean either consciously or unconsciously to account for their views of NOS. This research reflects that the Doctrine of the Mean affected Chinese teachers’ views of NOS, making them rather deficient in their understandings of classical NOS. Based on empirical data, it is argued that science teacher training in China should focus on the content and objectives of classical NOS, rather than just teaching contemporary views of NOS. Taking Chinese culture into consideration, science teacher education in China cannot entirely import the strategies of teaching the classical views of NOS from the developed world, but should develop, design and contextualize local strategies that are suitable for the training of Chinese science teachers. Some issues for further investigation of learners’ views of NOS in non-Western contexts are suggested as implications from this study.     

Putting Sociology First—Reconsidering the Role of the Social in ‘Nature of Science’ Education

Contrasting two examples from 2005, a creationism-trial and a recent textbook, the article shows two different ways of employing social considerations to demarcate science from non-science. Drawing conclusions from the comparison, and citing some of the leading proponents of science studies, the paper argues for a novel perspective in teaching nature of science (NOS) issues, one that grows out of sociological and anthropological considerations of (scientific) expertise. In contrast to currently dominant epistemic approaches to teach NOS, this view makes it possible to incorporate epistemic and social norms in a unified framework that can alleviate presently problematic aspects of NOS modules, and can help students appreciate science as a privileged form of knowledge-production without becoming scientistic. A pilot module to carry out the above is presented and assessed, showing that a broad sociological starting point is closer to the lifeworld of students, and that traditional epistemic considerations need not be compromised.     

Newton’s Investigation of the Resistance to Moving Bodies in Continuous Fluids and the Nature of ‘Frontier Science’

Newton’s experiments into the resistance which fluids offer to moving bodies provide some insight into the way he related theory and experiment. His theory demonstrates a way of thought typical of 17th century physics and his experiments are simple enough to be replicated by present day students. Newton’s investigations using pendulums were discussed in a previous paper. In this paper Newton’s theory of the resisted motion of falling bodies is outlined, his investigations into the resistance offered to falling bodies by water and the experiments of others into the resistance offered by air are described and some implications for teaching about the nature of science are discussed.     

The ‘Nature of Science’ and the Perils of Epistemic Relativism

Research in Science Education - There is an increasing demand in the field of science education for the incorporation of philosophical and sociological aspects that are related to the scientific...     

The Relationship between Students’ Views of the Nature of Science and their Views of the Nature of Scientific Measurement

The present study explores the relationship between students’ views of the nature of science (NOS) and their views of the nature of scientific measurement. A questionnaire with two‐tier diagnostic multiple‐choice items on both the NOS and measurement was administered to 179 first‐year physics students with diverse school experiences. Students’ views on the NOS were classified into four NOS ‘profiles’, and views on measurement were classified according to either the point or set paradigms. The findings show that students with a NOS profile dominated by a belief that the laws of nature are to be discovered by scientists are more likely to have a view of the nature of scientific measurement characterised by a belief in ‘true’ values. On the other hand, students who believe that scientific theories are inventions of scientists, constructed from observations that are then validated through further experimentation, are more likely to have a view of the nature of scientific measurement that is underpinned by the uncertain nature of scientific evidence. The implications for teaching scientific measurement at tertiary level are discussed.     

On the Failure of Jude’s Ambition

In Jude the Obscure, Victorian education and Victorian morality are the main causes of Jude fawley’s tragedy in ambi?tion. This article will discuss Jude’s tragedy from both external and internal aspec...     

Exploring the Development of Preservice Science Teachers’ Views on the Nature of Science in Inquiry-Based Laboratory Instruction

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of the inquiry-based and explicit–reflective laboratory instruction on preservice science teachers’ (PSTs) conceptions of the nature of science (NOS) aspects. This study was carried out during the Laboratory Application in Science II course. All 52 preservice elementary science teachers enrolled in the course consented to participate in the study; 37 were female and 15 were male, with a mean age of 22.8 years. All had the same science major background, and all of them were juniors. The course provided meaningful and practical inquiry-based experiences, as well as explicit and reflective instruction about NOS. Each week, a specific NOS aspect was targeted related to the inquiry-based laboratory investigation. The design of the study was qualitative and exploratory in nature. At the beginning of the study, the Views of Nature of Science Questionnaire Version B open-ended questionnaire was applied to explore PSTs’ NOS views. At the end of the semester, the same questionnaire was conducted to determine the impact of the explicit–reflective and inquiry-based laboratory instruction. The results showed that many PSTs improved their views of NOS in each element, although to different degrees.     

Assessing the Nature of Science: What is the Nature of Our Assessments?

This paper discusses the nature of the instruments used to assess students' and teachers' conceptions of the nature of science during the last four decades. Two salient points emerge from critically reviewing the various research emphases and associated assessment instruments specifically related to the nature of science. The first is to question the validity of much of the research presented on the grounds that (a) assessment instruments are interpreted in a biased manner, and (b) some assessment instruments appear to be poorly constructed. Although such comments are well founded, it is important to note that the research conclusions were unusually uniform regardless of the particular instrument used in an investigation. The second point is a more critical concern about the traditional paper and pencil approach to the assessment of an individual's understanding of the nature of science. Although not a new insight, discrepancies between the interpretation of a written response to a traditional instrument (e.g., multiple choice assessment) and the intent of the respondent have been well documented. It is suggested that the current educational research shift toward more qualitative, open-ended approaches to assessment of individuals' understanding (of any concept) be applied to the assessment of individuals' nature of science conceptions.     

Nature,the Source of William Wordsworth’s Inspiration

William Wordsworth has been considered a great Romantic poet in English literature.His thoughts and poems have been researched by literary critics from different aspects.This paper argues that nature is the source of his inspiration by analyzing the background of the poet’s life and his famous poems.     

Improving Preservice Middle Grades Science Teachers’ Understanding of the Nature of Science Using Three Instructional Approaches

The purpose of this study was to investigate changes in preservice teachers’ understanding of the nature of science (NOS) as a result of four activity-based interventions that represent three instructional approaches used in a middle grades science methods course. Ten participants’ understanding of NOS and their perceptions about the activity-based interventions were investigated. Data were collected using open-ended questionnaires and in-depth interviews before and after the interventions. Written artifacts and recorded group discussions were collected during the interventions. The results of this study showed that inclusion of various approaches to teaching NOS can contribute to developing preservice teachers’ understanding of NOS. The activities complemented each other in the teaching of the NOS components. In addition, the preservice teachers perceived that the four interventions were helpful in improving their understanding of NOS and in preparing them for future teaching.     

On the Themes of Emily Dickinson’s Poetry

Emily Dickinson is the most famous legendary lyric poetess of the United States. She perceived death as a gradual pro-cess with different functions. In the theme of love, desirable love, treacly love a...     

On the Formation of Lawrence’s Tragic Thought

Tragic thought has been interwoven throughout D.H.Lawrence’s works,and his tragic sense is the direct result of the social realities,cultural context and his personal experiences.     

Enabling Factors of Preservice Science Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Nature of Science and Nature of Scientific Inquiry

Science & Education - The goal of this study was to explore the influencing factors of pre-service science teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for targeted aspects of nature of...     

Kind-hearted by Nature——On the Anti-hero Yossarian

Yossarian,the protagonist of Catch-22,lives in a marginal position and in the dilemma,and he has done many ridiculous things to keep alive.But basically Yossarian is still kind-hearted.He is an upright man and very compassionate to others.     

On the Epistemic Value of Students’ Conceptions in Science Education

Science & Education - In this article, I present an analysis of the epistemic value of the students' conceptions, as employed in the current constructivist research. I focus on the...