Investigation of the Relationship Between Pre-service Science Teachers’ Epistemological Beliefs and Beliefs About Nature of Science

Author(s):

Aslı Saylan(presenting / submitting)Oktay Bektaş Fulya Öner Armağan

Conference:

ECER 2015

Network:

WERA Focal Meeting

Format:

Paper

Session Information

WERA SES 01 C, International Perspectives on Communities of Learning in Teacher Education

Paper session

Time:

2015-09-08

13:15-14:45

Room:

305. [Main]

Chair:

Aslam Fataar

Contribution

Personal epistemological beliefs are the beliefs regarding the nature of knowledge and knowing including beliefs about the definition of knowledge, how knowledge is constructed, how knowledge is evaluated, where knowledge resides, and how knowing occurs (Hofer, 2001). Schommer (1990) stated that epistemological beliefs affect the students’ processing of information and monitoring of their comprehension. She also suggested that personal epistemological belief system includes several more or less independent dimensions and identified five dimensions which are source of knowledge (Omniscient Authority), certainty of knowledge (Certain Knowledge), organization of knowledge (Simple Knowledge), control of learning (Innate Ability), and speed of learning (Quick Learning).

Nature of science (NOS) is the epistemology and sociology of science, science as a way of knowing, or the values and beliefs inherent to the development of scientific knowledge (Lederman, 1992). Dimention of NOS are tentativeness, subjectivity, experiments, evidences, and scepticism, creativity and imagination, socio-cultural values, observations and inferences, law and theory, and scientific method (Abd-el Khalick, Bell, & Lederman, 1998). The relevant literature about NOS showed that there are some important factors, which facilitate or hinder understanding of NOS views such as epistemological beliefs, prior conceptions about NOS, and metacognitive awareness (Abd-El-Khalick & Akerson, 2004; Southerland, Johnston & Sowell, 2006). Science educators defined NOS as the epistemology of science (e.g. Abd-el Khalick, Bell, & Lederman, 1998). Hence, there is a consensus among educators about NOS is closely related with personal epistemological beliefs. In the literature, some researchers explored this relationship (e.g. Cho, Lankford, & Wescott, 2011; Özgelen, 2013). For instance, Cho et al. (2011) conducted a study to explore the relationship between college students’ epistemological beliefs and views on NOS. In their study, the factor analyses revealed three aspects for the NOS and five dimensions of epistemological beliefs. The results of their study showed moderate and significant relationships between these dimensions of the two concepts. Different from the mentioned study, to detail the assessment of NOS aspects, in this study it was decided to specify much more aspects by specifying much more items of scale.

Like many countries, Turkey also needs scientifically literate citizens. In order to achieve this goal, it is important to know pre-service science teachers (PSTs)’ epistemological beliefs and knowledge about NOS. Özgelen (2013) carried out a research to investigate the relationships among 45 PSTs’ epistemological beliefs, metacognitive awareness, and NOS. The results revealed that statistically significant relationships were found among some aspects of NOS, epistemological beliefs, and metacognitive awareness. In the present research, it was aimed to reach more PSTs to make more accurate generalizations based on the results. Therefore, PSTs were selected as the sample of this study.

In despite of above-mentioned studies, there is still a lack of research conducted to investigate the relationship between personal epistemological beliefs and beliefs about NOS. The reason for this may be the consensus in that educators might not consider this relationship necessary to investigate deeply. On the other hand, both epistemological beliefs and the NOS have multiple dimensions and investigation of the relationship among these dimensions would be beneficial. Therefore, the main aim of this study is to investigate whether there is a relationship between PSTs’ epistemological beliefs and beliefs about NOS or not. It was also aimed to investigate this relationship in a detailed manner by exploring the relationships among subdimensions of PSTs’ epistemological beliefs and subdimensions of their beliefs about NOS. On this basis, the research question is: What is the relationship between PSTs’ epistemological beliefs and beliefs about NOS? Also the two sub-problems of this study are: (1) What are the PSTs’ epistemological beliefs? (2) What are the PSTs’ beliefs about NOS?

Method

Correlational research design was used to explore the relationship between PSTs’ epistemological beliefs and beliefs about NOS. A convenience sample of 219 PSTs (49 males and 170 females) enrolled in four public universities in Turkey. In the study, two instruments were applied to the participants respectively: Schommer’s Epistemological Questionnaire (SEQ) developed by Schommer (1990), and Beliefs about NOS Scale (BNOS) developed by the researchers in 2014. SEQ is a 5-point Likert scale consisting of 63 items. It includes five hypothetical dimensions and 12 subscales within these dimensions. Topçu and Yılmaz-Tüzün (2006) translated and validated SEQ into Turkish. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of this scale in the present study was found .72. There are quite number of qualitative and quantitative instruments developed to measure students’ beliefs about NOS (e.g. VNOS; Lederman, Wade & Bell, 1998; Lederman, Abd-El Khalick, Bell & Schwartz, 2002). Although VNOS is quite reliable and valid, it has some limitations for quantifying individuals’ NOS profiles and for administering in a large classroom (Cho, et al., 2011). Hence, it was developed a new instrument by making use of the items of three existing instruments: Nature of Science Knowledge Scale (developed by Rubba and Andersen (1978), translated and adapted into Turkish by Kılıç, Sungur, Çakıroğlu, and Tekkaya (2005)), Nature of Science survey (developed by Cho, Lankford, and Wescott (2011)), and Nature of Science Beliefs Scale (developed by Özcan (2011)). BNOS is 5-point Likert scale including 51 items with eight subscales. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of this scale in the present study was found .77. Data collection procedure took one semester, 2014-2015 Fall. The intruments were conducted within two weeks in November. PSTs were given approximately 50 minutes to complete two instruments. The intruments were answered in the same class hour in the order of SEQ and BNOS. An assistant helped with collecting data at each school by following the same procedure in each classroom to be sure about the consistency of data collection procedure. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 20 was used to analyze data. First, descriptive statistics were conducted to assess PSTs’ epistemological beliefs and beliefs about NOS. Due to the reverse scoring, PSTs who got higher scores from SEQ were seen as having less developed epistemological beliefs. Likewise, PSTs who got higher scores from BNOS had informed views about NOS. Second, corelational analysis was conducted to explore the relationship between PSTs’ epistemological beliefs and beliefs about NOS.

Expected Outcomes

Descriptive statistics results showed that since the average SEQ score is lower than the mean, it can be concluded that the PSTs have relatively sophisticated epistemological beliefs. Four factors of SEQ on which PSTs scored from highest to lowest: Certain Knowledge (M=3.24), Simple Knowledge (M=2.80), Innate Ability (M=2.65), Omniscient Authority (M=2.05). Since the average BNOS score is higher than the mean, it can be concluded that the PSTs generally had more informed beliefs about NOS. The results revealed eight factors of BNOS from highest to lowest: Experiments, evidences, and scepticism (M=3.97); Tentativeness (M=3.95); Creativity and imagination (M=3.75); Subjectivity (M=3.57); Scientific method (M=3.48); Socio-cultural values (M=3.40); Observations and inferences (M=3.21); Law and theory (M=2.90). A medium negative correlation between PSTs’ epistemological beliefs and beliefs about NOS was found, r = -.34, p = .00. Therefore, as PSTs have sophisticated epistemological beliefs, they have higher scores on BNOS. Based on the results, “innate ability” small and negatively correlated with “Tentativeness (T)” (r = -.15, p = .03). Also, “innate ability” medium and negatively correlated with “Subjectivity (S)” (r = -.31, p = .00). “Simple knowledge” medium and negatively correlated with “T” (r = -.31, p = .00); small and negatively correlated with “S” (r = -.28, p = .00), “Experiments, evidences, and scepticism (EES)” (r = -.16, p = .02), “Creativity and imagination (CI)” (r = -.22, p = .00), and “Scientific method” (r = -.18, p = .00). “Omniscient authority” small and negatively correlated with “Tentativeness” (r = -.21, p = .00), “CI” (r = -.16, p = .02), and “Law and theory (LT)” (r = -.16, p = .02). “Certain knowledge” small and negatively correlated with “Observations and inferences” (r = -.19, p = .01), “Subjectivity” (r = -.27, p = .00), “LT” (r = -.22, p = .00).

References

Abd-El-Khalick, F., & Akerson, V. L. (2004). Learning as conceptual change: Factors that mediate the development of preservice elementary teachers’ views of nature of science. Science Education, 88(5), 785-810. Abd-El-Khalick, F., Bell, R.L., & Lederman, N.G. (1998). The nature of science and instructional practice: Making the unnatural natural. Science Education, 82, 417-436. Cho, Lankford, & Wescott (2011). Exploring the Relationships among Epistemological Beliefs, Nature of Science, and Conceptual Change in the Learning of Evolutionary Theory. Evolution: Education and Outreach, 4(2), 313-322. Hofer, B. K. (2001). Personal epistemology research: Implications for learning and teaching. Educational Psychology Review, 13, 353-383. Kılıç, K., Sungur, S., Çakıroğlu, J. ve Tekkaya, C. (2005). Ninth Grade Students’ Understanding of the Nature of Scientific Knowledge, Hacettepe Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 28, 127-133. Lederman, N.G. (1992). Students’ and teachers’ conceptions of the nature of science: A review of the research. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 29, 331-359. Lederman, N. G., Abd-El Khalick, F., Bell, R. L., & Schwartz, R. (2002). Views of nature of science questionnaire (VNOS): Toward valid and meaningful assessment of learners’ conceptions of nature of science. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 39(6), 497-521. Lederman, N.G., Wade, P.D. & Bell, R.L. (1998). Assessing the Nature of Science: What is the Nature of our Assessment?. Science and Education, 7, 595-615. Özcan, I. (2011). Bilimin Doğası İnanışlarına Yönelik Bir Ölçeğin Geliştirilmesi ve Fen Bilgisi Öğretmen Adaylarının Bilimin Doğası İnanışlarının Tespiti. Yüksek Lisans Tezi, Marmara Üniversitesi, Eğitim Bilimleri Enstitüsü, 96s. Özgelen, S. (2013). Bilimin Doğası Ölçeğinin Geliştirilmesi. Kastamonu Eğitim Dergisi, 21(2), 711-736. Rubba, P. A., & Andersen, H. (1978). Development of an instrument to assess secondary school students’ understanding of the nature of scientific knowledge. Science Education, 62(4), 449-458. Schommer, M. (1990). Effects of beliefs about the nature of knowledge on comprehension. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82, 498-508. Southerland, S. A., Johnston, A., & Sowell, S. (2006). Describing teachers’ conceptual ecologies for the nature of science. Science Education, 90(5), 874-906. Topçu, M. S., & Yılmaz-Tüzün, Ö. (2006, May 25-28). The effects of self-efficacy and epistemological world views on preservice science teachers’ epistemological beliefs. Paper presented at the 8th International Conference on Education, Atina, Greece.

Author Information

Aslı Saylan (presenting / submitting)

Erciyes University

Science Education

Kayseri

Oktay Bektaş

Erciyes University, Turkey

Fulya Öner Armağan