Reports on a study to test the validity of the assumption that a teacher's conception of the nature of science directly influences his/her classroom behavior. Recommends a redirection in science education to promote more adequate conceptions of the nature of science in secondary schools. (TW)

Identified classroom variables (teacher variables and classroom climate) which are related to changes in high school students' conceptions of the nature of science. Results discussed are based on data collected over a two-year period from 18 biology teachers and their 409 students. Implications for science instruction are addressed. (JN)

This research tested the validity of the prevalent assumption that a teacher's conception of the nature of science influences his/her classroom behavior. The subjects consisted of 18 senior high school biology teachers and one randomly selected tenth-grade biology class of each teacher. Each class (mean size of 22.72 students) was heterogeneous…

This summary of research developed by the ERIC Clearinghouse for Science, Mathematics, and Environmental Education contains two main sections: Research on Teaching and Research on Learning. The first section contains subsections on Curriculum and Instruction, Science Teacher Education. Curriculum and Instruction, Cognition and Achievement, and…

Examined was the possibility that the language teachers use to communicate science content may provide the context in which students formulate a world view of science. Results are presented and the implications of these results for teacher education programs are discussed. (Author/CW)

Reviews research from the past 40 years on students' and teachers' conceptions of the nature of science, clarifies the basic assumptions and logic which have guided earlier research efforts, contrasts the results from qualitative and quantitative research, makes recommendations about research methods, and suggests avenues for future research about…

This summary of research in science education continues a long tradition of review and analysis of research in science education by the ERIC Clearinghouse for Science, Mathematics, and Environmental Education. The summaries provide an overview of recent research, provide research information in a succinct form for practitioners and development…

Conveying an adequate conception of the nature of science to students is considered by many to be implicit in the broader context of what has come to be known as scientific literacy. It has also been demonstrated that possession of valid concepts of the nature of science do not necessarily result in better science teaching. This study examines the…

This study investigated which classroom variables are related to changes in students' (N=409) conceptions of the nature of scientific knowledge. Eighteen high school biology teachers/classrooms were compared with respect to students' conceptual changes on six aspects of the nature of science (amoral, creative, tentative, testable, parsimonious,…

High school biology teachers (N=18), and one 10th-grade class of each teacher, were given the Nature of Scientific Knowledge Scale at the beginning and end of a school year to determine their conceptions of the nature of science. Results (such as students not possessing "adequate" conceptions of science) are reported and discussed. (JN)

Current reform efforts in the teaching of high school biology demonstrate the need for a synthetic treatment of prominent concepts. There exists insufficient research that delineates the global content understandings--in this paper designated subject matter structures (SMS)--of biology teachers; or that assesses whether these SMS do, in fact,…

Investigated were students' beliefs about the tentativeness of scientific knowledge, various sources of students' beliefs as well as those factors that have altered students' beliefs about science, and the implications of students' beliefs for daily personal and societal decisions. The research methodology and instructional implications are…

This investigation was guided by the following research questions: (1) how do teachers' understandings of the nature of science influence classroom practice?; and (2) what factors facilitate or impede the influence of teachers' understandings on classroom practice? An in-depth, year long assessment of the classroom practices and goals of five…

The purpose of this investigation was to qualitatively study the transfer of skills and perceptions developed in microteaching to the student teaching experience. In addition, the study analyzed whether there was further development or changes of these skills and concerns throughout the duration of student teaching. The initial sample used was 17…