In order to provide effective science teaching for students, we as teachers need to be aware that science has certain characteristics that describe it. These characteristics are known as the Nature of Science (NOS) and establish how science is different from other ways of knowing. Many people, including myself before taking this course, have misconceptions about what science is and how the field of science works.
The characteristics that distinguish science and that many people have misconceptions about are:
1. Science is a creative endeavor. Scientists have to come up with what needs to be investigated as well as possible solutions or explanations for the unexplained. Scientists must also come up with a way to investigate the facts in order to draw conclusions from those facts.
2. Science is social. Scientists do not work alone in a laboratory, but rather work together to engage in investigations, come up with explanations, and compare/contrast data.
3. Science is tentative. Because we are making inferences based on observation, we can not prove anything in science. Instead, it is heavily supported with evidence (see empirical below) and scientific ideas can change as new evidence comes about.
4. Science is empirical. This means that science is evidence-based and all conclusions should be supported by data. Along with science being evidence-based, it is important to note that evidence is not only found through conducting experiments, but can also be found through observations and other means of looking at what has occurred in similar situations in the past.
5. Science is limited. There are some things that we simply cannot investigate in a scientific way. An example of this would be the supernatural and religion. These are not natural phenomena that can be explained through science. Science is also limited in the sense that there are some things we can't observe - like what the very center/core of the earth looks like/what it is made of, but we can use inferences through what we can see to help us come up with explanations.
6. Science is theory-laden. There is a difference in law and theory. Laws are patterns in nature and theories are the explanations for why the laws are true. The explanations for why patterns in nature are occurring and determining what makes those patterns occur is the basis of what science is.
7. There is no one scientific-method. Scientists use a variety of ways to investigate, observe, and to develop understanding of scientific ideas. Because of this, teaching students that there is a step by step process that scientists go through with everything they do is an inaccurate portrayal of scientists. Because there is no one scientific method, science becomes a much more creative endeavor.
As teachers, we have to be aware how we are portraying science to our students and how that shapes their perceptions of what science is. By incorporating these ideas into our content instruction and through explicitly teaching students to recognize these ideas, we can give students a better understanding of science and can peak student interest in science. One way that we as teachers can actively ensure we are not contributing to students' misconceptions about the NOS is to what watch language we use in the classroom (saying investigations instead of experiments, being careful when referring to theories & laws...etc.), to plan decontextualized activities (like Dr. Kruse's tube activity) that lend themselves to conversations about the nature of science, to have students reflect about how what they are doing is like what real scientists do, and to plan activities and investigations that accurate reflect the key aspects of the NOS (allow students to come up with procedures for investigations, engaging students in collaborative learning, ensuring that students are using evidence to support claims...etc.) Students of all ages can engage in conversations about the NOS, it just depends on the context of that conversations and which aspects of the NOS that students are being asked to recognize. The NOS aspects being addressed with students should still be developmentally appropriate, as some of the aspects of the NOS are very abstract. For example, while a kindergarten student should probably be able to understand that science can and is social and that we have to use evidence (the 5 senses) in science, we probably would not have a conversation about theory vs. law or about how science is limited and tentative with kindergarten students.
