Open Collections

Investigation and analysis of nature of science perspectives among key curriculum influences in British Columbia

University of British Columbia

In this study I investigated the Nature of Science (NOS) perspectives advocated among three significant influences on school science in British Columbia: the official curriculum materials – Integrated Resource Packages (IRPs); the teachers; and the textbooks since these three significantly influence student learning experiences. I examined the Science 9 Integrated Resource Package (IRP) 2005 and two editions of B.C. Science Probe 9 by Nelson Publishing by using the protocol established by Chiappetta, Fillman and Sethna (1991) with the addition of a method from Green (2012) to investigate the nature of science in text. I used an interview protocol developed by Padayachee (2012) for exploring teachers’ views of the nature of science. Analysis of the perspectives indicates that there is alignment between NOS perspectives by teachers and those implied in the IRP. The agreement that hands-on, inquiry-based, and experience-oriented science learning is worthwhile acknowledges the value of science as a way of investigating, science as a way of thinking and science in the context science-technology-society. On the other hand there is partial alignment of textbook-based NOS perspectives with those discerned from IRP and teachers’ views of science teaching. Textbook NOS perspectives emphasized science as a body of knowledge without reference to history, creativity or imagination. The study’s findings have implications on how complete understanding of the nature of science might be taught, learned and represented in various learning media.

Text

2016-01-26

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/56694

Science Education

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ca/