Understanding of Nature of Science (NOS)
Research Team:
Faculty: Dr. Molly Weinburgh and Dr. Mark Bloom
Project
Since 2003, TCU has been awarded Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants to provide professional development to in-service biology teachers. Each year twenty teachers from a pool of applicants have been selected to participate. Participating teachers attend an intensive two-week summer institute and follow up Saturday workshops throughout the academic year. This research is taking place during the 2007 summer institute.
We are studying in-service science teachers’ conceptions of the philosophical nature of science (NOS). The teachers’ conceptions are measured prior to the professional development using the Views of the Nature of Science Questionnaire (VNOS) and again at the end of the two-week summer institute in which explicit emphasis is placed on developing an understanding of NOS. In addition to the data generated by the VNOS, we are also conducting individual interviews as well as collecting video/audio recordings of the teachers throughout the intervention activities. All data will be qualitatively analyzed to look for change in teachers’ conceptions over time. Particular emphasis will be placed on what interventions seemed to affect the most change in teachers’ ideas about science.
For more information contact Mark Bloom