The development of a typology of science teachers' views on the nature of science and science practical work: an evaluative pilot study

Abstract

Many theories on the nature of science and the nature of learning have been proposed. In particular, two theoretical orientations have been identified as having a decisive impact on activities in the school science classroom, namely "Inductivism" and "Constructivism". Inductivism views observations as objective, facts as constants and knowledge as being obtained from a fixed external reality. The constructivist view sees all knowledge as "reality" reconstructed in the mind of the learner. Each view predisposes certain orientations towards the science curriculum and within it particularly to assessment. It is postulated that teachers' views on science will influence how they teach and assess it. An "inductivist" teacher is more likely to reward certain approved responses from learners whereas a "constructivist" teacher is more likely to attend to learners' unique observations as evidence of their thinking. In this study a questionnaire was developed in an attempt classify science teachers according to their views on the nature of science and learning, and during this process encourage them to reflect on these views. It is hoped that the instrument could measure any changes in teacher's views as a result of the teachers becoming more reflective practitioners over time. Research indicates that the majority of teachers have a predominantly inductivist view of science. The study confirmed the results of other researchers by showing that a majority of non-tertiary science educators could be classified as being strongly inductivist. However, the overall proportion of these teachers was not as high as expected. Of possible concern was the indication that the strongly constructivist group showed very strong inductivist tendencies when assessing written tests which involved pupils' responses to laboratory observations.