AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Fouad S. Abd-El-Khalick for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Science Education presented on July 29, 1998. Title: The influence of History of Science Courses on Students ' Conceptions of the Nature of Science. Abstract ap

This study assessed the influence of three history of science (HOS) courses on college students and preservice science teachers ' conceptions of the nature of science (NOS), and examined whether participants who entered the investigated HOS courses with a conceptual framework consistent with c'Jrrertt NOS views achieved more elaborate NOS understandings. The study also explored the aspects of the participant HOS courses that may have rendered them more effective in influencing students ' conceptions. Participants were 141 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in three HOS courses and 15 preservice science teachers enrolled in a science methods course in a mid-sized state university on the West Coast. Ten of the preservice teachers were enrolled in one of the participant HOS courses. An open-ended questionnaire was used to assess participants ' pre- and post-instruction NOS views. individual interviews were used to establish the questionnaire's validity. Twenty percent of the participants were randomly selected for the pre-instruction interviews and an equal percentage were interviewed at the end of the study. Other data sources included field notes, lecture audiotapes, and interviews with the I-lOS course professors