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Asia-Pacific Forum
on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 11, Issue 1, Article 5 (Jun., 2010) |
Science teachers’ conceptions of nature of science: The case of Bangladesh
Md. Mahbub Alam SARKAR
Centre for Science, Maths and Technology Education, Faculty of Education
Monash University, AUSTRALIA
E-mail: Mahbub.Sarkar@Education.monash.edu.auJui Judith GOMES
Science and Mathematics Education, Melbourne Graduate School of Education
The University of Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
E-mail: j.gomes@pgrad.unimelb.edu.auReceived 29 Apr., 2010
Revised 17 Jun., 2010
Contents
This study explored Bangladeshi science teachers’ conceptions of nature of science (NOS) with a particular focus on the nature of (a) scientific knowledge, (b) scientific inquiry and (c) scientific enterprise. The tentative, inferential, subjective and creative NOS, in addition to the myths of the scientific method and experimentation, the nature of scientific laws and theories, the social and cultural embeddedness, and cooperation and collaboration in science were considered in the conceptual framework. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected concurrently using the Myths of Science Questionnaire (MOSQ) from 145 science teachers. Results showed that the majority of the teachers in this study held uninformed conceptions about most of the target NOS aspects. Also, an inconsistent response pattern was revealed in teachers’ response to the aspects directly related NOS. The results suggest that further research is required to better understand how Bangladeshi teachers model NOS in their classes and how the pedagogies of teacher education inform this modelling.
Keywords: Nature of science, teachers' conception, science teaching, Bangladesh
