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Asia-Pacific Forum
on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 10, Issue 1, Article 4
(June, 2009) |
Although the NOS is neither universal nor stable, it is generally agreed that the NOS encompasses various fields, especially epistemology, which involves how scientific knowledge is generated and the character of science (Lederman, 1992). McComas, Clough, and Almazroa (1998) provide a good overall description of the NOS:
The nature of science is a fertile hybrid arena, which blends aspects of various social studies of science including the history, sociology, and philosophy of science combined with research from the cognitive sciences such as psychology into a rich description of what science is, how it works, how scientists operate as a social group and how society itself both directs and reacts to scientific endeavours (p. 4).
In addition, from an analysis of eight international science standard documents, those authors summarised a consensus view of the NOS. Some aspects of the NOS include: Scientific knowledge is tentative; scientific knowledge relies heavily, but not entirely, on observation, experimental evidence, rational arguments, and scepticism; there is no universal step-by-step scientific method; laws and theories serve different roles in science; observations are theory-laden; scientists are creative; science and technology impact each other; and scientific ideas are affected by their social and historical milieu (McComas, Clough et al., 1998, pp. 6-7).
