Disciplinary Perspectives on Science and Its Nature: Exploring Perspectives and Developing a Nature of Science Concept Test

Date

2025-6-20

Author

Soysal Filazioğlu, Ceren

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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This study has several purposes. First, it aims to reveal how science practitioners across various fields describe science and to investigate how these descriptions align with the available approaches on the nature of science. The second purpose is to investigate the science descriptions of in-service teachers from different branches. By examining the descriptions of practitioners and teachers working in various disciplines, this research seeks to provide a holistic and interdisciplinary understanding of science and its nature. Finally, informed by these investigations, the study aims to develop an inclusive, reliable, and valid instrument that represents both the epistemic and non-epistemic aspects of the nature of science. Considering the aims, both qualitative and quantitative research designs are employed in the study. In this regard, data were collected through semi-structured interviews from 14 science practitioners and 4 teachers and with Nature of Science Concept Test that was developed from 131 science practitioners and teachers. Findings revealed that science practitioners maintained a process-oriented understanding of science, and most of them indicated that social, cultural, and economic factors influenced their scientific practices. The descriptions of practitioners align with approaches that highlight both the cognitive and empirical aspects, as well as the socio-cultural aspects of the nature of science. Teachers’ descriptions were gathered under three main and interrelated themes: science descriptions, views on scientific practice, and non-epistemic dimensions of nature of science. The validity and reliability calculations for the test showed that it can be used to investigate science practitioners’ and teachers’ conceptions of the nature of science.

Subject Keywords

Nature of Science, Science Practitioners, Teachers, Disciplinary Perspectives, NOS Concept Test

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/115479

Collections

Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Thesis