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Asia-Pacific Forum
on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 10, Issue 1, Article 4
(June, 2009) |
Thai pre-service science teachers' conceptions of the nature of science
Most of the NOS studies in Thailand are unpublished Master’s level theses that were extensively conducted during the 1997-2001 period within a specific area, i.e., the northeast region. A few of these studies dealt with pre-service teachers. Of the 26 Master’s theses that examined teachers’ conceptions of the NOS, there were only three studies related to pre-service teachers’ conceptions of the NOS, one dealing with pre-service teachers in general (Wansudol, 2000) and two others dealing specifically with pre-service science teachers (Jongchidklang, 2000; Phiankaew, 1999). All of these studies strongly emphasised a quantitative approach. Surprisingly, all of them utilised the same questionnaire, consisting of 94 items corresponding to the four scales of the NOS: assumptions of the nature scale (12 items); scientific knowledge scale (24 items); scientific method scale (24 items), and interaction between science-society-technology scale (34 items). These studies reported respondents’ conceptions of the NOS according to those scales as rated on five-point Likert scales. Five major findings emerged from these studies.
First, pre-service teachers generally demonstrated a high level of understanding of the NOS (Jongchidklang, 2000; Phiankaew, 1999; Wansudol, 2000). There were only a few subscales on which most student teachers showed a moderate level of understanding, i.e., the Parsimony subscale (Jongchidklang, 2000; Wansudol, 2000) and the Consistency subscale (Jongchidklang, 2000; Phiankaew, 1999; Wansudol, 2000).
Second, in general, male and female pre-service teachers did not show different understandings of the NOS (Jongchidklang, 2000; Phiankaew, 1999; Wansudol, 2000). However, on the Consistency and Causality subscales, males held significantly more understanding of the NOS than females (Jongchidklang, 2000), but they showed less understanding of the Amoral subscale than females (Phiankaew, 1999).
Third, pre-service teachers with different content backgrounds showed different levels of understanding of the NOS. In general, comparing with pre-service chemistry, general science, and physics teachers, pre-service biology teachers expressed more understanding of the NOS in particular to its interaction between science, technology and society, creativity and testable aspects (Phiankaew, 1999).
Fourth, pre-service science teachers held a significantly better understanding of the NOS than pre-service elementary teachers on two scales, i.e., the assumptions of the nature and interaction between science-society-technology scales (Jongchidklang, 2000).
Finally, statistical interactions between the variables of gender and learning programme on the understanding of the NOS, in general, were not found to be significant (Wansudol, 2000).
This study aimed to explore conceptions of the NOS held by Thai pre-service science teachers in a more qualitative manner. The findings of this study may contribute to the relatively limited literature on pre-service science teachers’ conceptions of the NOS and initially inform involved stakeholders of the current state of pre-service science teachers’ understanding of the NOS and, subsequently, help them to plan for programmes and curricula to promote understanding of the NOS at the pre-service level.
