Engaging K-12 students in science-based inquiry is at the center of current science education reform efforts. Inquiry can best be taught through experiential, authentic science experiences, such as those provided by Student-Teacher-Scientist Partnerships (STSPs). However, very little is known about the impact of STSPs on teachers' and…

The Biology Workbench (BW) is a web-based tool enabling scientists to search a wide array of protein and nucleic acid sequence databases with integrated access to a variety of analysis and modeling tools. The present study examined the development of this scientific tool and its consequent adoption into the context of high school science teaching…

Reasoning skills are major contributors to academic and everyday life success. Epistemological commitments (ECs) are believed to underlie reasoning processes and, when considered, could do much in delineating the complex nature of scientific reasoning. This study examined the relationship between ECs and scientific reasoning among college science…

This study further extends a conceptual framework that explores science teaching as a "practice" not reducible to the application of formal knowledge, but as informed by teachers' practical-moral knowledge. A hermeneutic model was developed to examine practical-moral knowledge "indirectly" by investigating teachers' commitments, interpretations,…

This study assessed the representations of nature of science (NOS) in high school chemistry textbooks and the extent to which these representations have changed during the past four decades. Analyses focused on the empirical, tentative, inferential, creative, theory-driven, and social NOS, in addition to the myth of "The Scientific Method," the…

This study aimed to assess grade 10 Turkish students' and science teachers' conceptions of nature of science (NOS) and whether these conceptions were related to selected variables. These variables included participants' gender, geographical region, and the socioeconomic status (SES) of their city and region; teacher disciplinary background, years…

This study investigated the impact of the use of computer technology on the enactment of "inquiry" in a sixth grade science classroom. Participants were 42 students (38% female) enrolled in two sections of the classroom and taught by a technology-enthusiast instructor. Data were collected over the course of 4 months during which several "inquiry"…

This study examined and supported the efforts of Tina, an experienced elementary teacher, in helping her fourth graders internalize informed views of the inferential, tentative, and creative nature of science (NOS). Tina held informed views of, and was motivated to teach about, NOS. The study aimed to answer the following question: What specific…

Traces the development of an open-ended instrument, the Views of Nature of Science Questionnaire (VNOS), and outlines the nature of science framework that underlies the development of the VNOS. (Contains 63 references.) (DDR)

Investigates the influence of an explicit and reflective inquiry-oriented instructional approach compared with an implicit inquiry-oriented approach on sixth grade students' understanding of the nature of science (NOS). Emphasizes tentative, empirical, inferential, and imaginative and creative NOS. Involves (n=62) sixth grade students in two…

Assesses the influence of three history of science (HOS) courses on college students' and preservice teachers' conceptions of nature of science (NOS). Examines whether participants who entered the investigated courses with a conceptual framework consistent with contemporary NOS views achieved more elaborate NOS understandings. Explores the aspects…

Discusses the influence of a reflective, explicit, activity-based approach to nature of science (NOS) instruction used in an elementary science methods course on preservice teachers' views of some aspects of the nature of science. Finds that participants made substantial gains in their views of some of the target NOS aspects. Advocates a…

Delineates the factors mediating the translation of preservice teachers' conceptions of the nature of science into instructional planning and classroom practice. Assesses the influence of temporally separating teaching preservice teachers about the nature of science and teaching them how to address it instructionally. (Contains 42 references.)…

Argues that a previous study of preservice teachers' beliefs about the nature of science (NOS) was interpretively and methodologically faulty. Contests the finding that teachers learned the NOS through implicit instruction, and questions the methodology leading to the assertion that teachers intended to include NOS instruction in their lessons.…

Describes the knowledge base of a group of science teachers as related to the structure, function, and development of their disciplines and their understanding of the nature of science. Twenty teachers participated in this study and their knowledge base was found lacking in all respects. The assumption was that teacher preparation programs are not…