Prospective primary teachers’ views on the nature of science

This article presents the results of a piece of research that analyzed the views on the nature of science (NOS) among student teachers enrolled in programs of Primary Education at two public universities in Spain. Previous studies have reported that science teachers maintain ‘eclectic’ epistemologic...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Amador Rodríguez, Rafael, Adúriz Bravo, Agustín, Valencia Cobo, Jorge Alberto, Reinoso Tapia, Roberto, Delgado Iglesias, Jaime
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/357447
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/357447
https://dx.doi.org/10.3926/jotse.1271
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Knowledge, Theory of
Science -- Philosophy
Science teachers
Epistemological views
Nature of science
Philosophy of science
Epistemological profile
Coneixement, Teoria del
Ciència -- Filosofia
Professors de ciències
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Ensenyament i aprenentatge::Formació del professorat (formació de formadors)
Descripción
Sumario:This article presents the results of a piece of research that analyzed the views on the nature of science (NOS) among student teachers enrolled in programs of Primary Education at two public universities in Spain. Previous studies have reported that science teachers maintain ‘eclectic’ epistemological perspectives on science; in this article, we test if such a hypothesis holds when teachers’ NOS ideas are ‘anchored’ in specific periods and topics of the philosophy of science. We studied 114 prospective teachers attending an undergraduate teaching course with emphasis on the natural sciences at the Universities of Burgos and Valladolid in the period of 2017-18. A Likert-scale questionnaire with 37 items was applied to determine trends in those teachers’ epistemological views on science. The results showed that teachers’ views are mostly correlated with the philosophical period of Logical Positivism/Received View, and to some extent to the period of Recent and Contemporary Accounts. Regarding the classical epistemological topics of correspondence, methodologies, intervention, evolution and representation, teachers’ views could be related to the period of Logical Positivism/Received View and Critical Rationalism, but also to the New Philosophy of Science. The main conclusion of this study is that teachers’ expressed views on NOS are epistemologically eclectic to a much smaller degree when examined with more details concerning specific periods and topics of the philosophy of science