One of the most general goals of standards for global science education is to prepare scientifically literate students despite the fact that the meaning of scientific literacy  differs somewhat from one country to another (Lederman, 1992). While some standards put more emphasis on the content, some others give precedence to the process. Having an explicit understanding ofthe enterprise of science constitutes the keystone of scientific literacy [American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 1993; National Research Council (NRC), 1996]. That is mainly because  students who comprehend how scientific knowledge evolves are able to evaluate scientific claims before accept or reject them. A scientifically literate person should be well-informed about the nature of science (NOS) and the nature of scientific inquiry (NOSI) as well as science subject matter (AAAS, 1989, 1993;NRC, 1996). Since 1990s, NOS has been one of the most popular topics studied by science educators for defining and/or improving the views of students, pre-service and in-service teachers (Lederman, 1992). A careful review of the science education literature reveals that the number of research studies on NOSI  are relatively fewer in comparison to NOS due to the fact that the notions related to the methods of science are often placed under the umbrella ofNOS (Schwartz, Lederman and Lederman, 2008). Whereas NOS is mostly related to the definition and features of science, and social, political and cultural aspects of science, NOSI is generally related to the process of scientific inquiry and how scientific  knowledge is generated and accepted. Although drawing the borderline between the concepts related to NOS and NOSI is sometimes hard, some of the aspects of NOSI include: questions guiding investigations, multiple methods of scientific investigation, multiple purposes of scientific investigation, justification of scientific knowledge, recognition and handling of anomalous data, distinction between data and evidence, community of practice (Schwartz, 2004).

Based on the aforementioned reasons, preparing a scientifically literate population has been the global aim of  science education for the last two decades. Accomplishing this aim is contingent upon the support of teachers. Especially, developing a sound understanding of NOS and NOSI concepts by students is firstly dependent on their teachers’ knowledge and abilitities on these areas. However,a considerable number of studies shows that the majority of teachers do not have contemporary views both on NOS and NOSI (Lederman et.al., 2003). Thus, improving teachers’ views about NOS and NOSI becomes vitally important for turning the goals of science education community into reality. For that purpose, an astronomy science summer camp was offered to practicing elementary and science teachers in 2010. The camp program included various activities related to NOS and NOSI concepts for attending teachers. This research study investigated the effects of the camp program on participant science teachers’ understanding of NOSI concepts.In the study, the following research questions were addressed:

1      What were the initial NOSI understandings of science teachers participated in an astronomy science summer camp?

2      What werethe effects of an astronomy science summer camp on science teachers’ understanding of NOSI?

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