The importance of teaching about the nature of science in the primary classroom

One o f the aims o f this research was to explore NoS conceptions amongst pre-service and novice teachers and to establish the extent to which their pupils developed more contemporary Nose conceptions, when taught about NoS through explicit means. The study also considered the effects of explicitly teaching NoS on beginning teachers\u27 approaches to and perceptions o f teaching science and on their pupil\u27s reflections o f school science. A mixture of qualitative and quantitative methodologies, which included questionnaires, group interviews and written reflections, was utilised to explore the research questions. There were four phases in the research. Phase one aimed at developing nineteen preservice primary teachers\u27 NoS conceptions. The extent to which these nineteen preservice teachers planned and explicitly taught aspects o f NoS over the course of their final teaching practice was addressed in the second phase. The third phase compared the extent to which four beginning teachers planned for and explicitly addressed NoS in their initial teaching year. Two o f these teachers had taken the NoS elective course (test) the previous year and two had not (control). The third phase also explored the effect that explicitly teaching NoS had on these beginning teachers\u27 approaches to and perceptions o f teaching science. The development o f N oS conceptions o f the pupils o f these four beginning teachers (9-11 years) was also explored in the third phase. The extent to which explicitly teaching NoS affected these primary children\u27s reflections on school science was also established in this phase. A preliminary content analysis o f seven international curriculum documents and two international assessment tools was conducted in the fourth phase to ascertain the extent to which these docum ents explicitly assessed NoS. The findings o f this study corroborated international research in that it indicated that explicit methods of teaching about NoS resulted in the developm ent o f more elaborate conceptions of NoS amongst pre-service prim ary teachers. However, the findings also revealed that beginning primary teachers\u27 contemporary NoS conceptions could be transferred to their pupils utilising explicit hands-on reflective approaches to teaching about NoS. The study also revealed new insights that are relevant to the teaching of primary science on a national and international basis. It was established that primary teachers who em ployed explicit approaches to teaching NoS as part of the Science Curriculum (DES, 1999a) utilised more hands-on, reflective constructivist approaches to teaching science and appeared to be more enthusiastic and confident about teaching science. In addition to developing more elaborate NoS conceptions amongst prim ary children, this study also revealed that explicit approaches to NoS resulted in an increased interest in and enjoyment o f school science amongst Irish primary school children. The primary children in this study w ho experienced explicit methods in NoS appeared to have been given more opportunities to employ and develop their science skills than their peers who did not experience explicit instruction in NoS. Other benefits of explicit approaches to teaching about NoS apparent in the findings were improved language developm ent and an increase in the children\u27s ability to formulate and present argum ents for discussion. Opportunities afforded to children when explicitly addressing NoS issues appear to have facilitated them in the employment and development o f their reflective and thinking skills. The research indicates that the development of contemporary conceptions of science is an important aspect of primary science in that, amongst other benefits, it helps the learning o f scientific concepts and skills and helps humanise science for children, thus making it more interesting for them to learn. Pre-service and in-service courses that provide teachers with the opportunity to develop their conceptual and pedagogical knowledge o f NoS could facilitate Irish primary teachers in explicitly teaching about NoS as part of the Science Curriculum (DES, 1999a). There are concerns in Ireland regarding the decline in the num ber o f students taking science at secondary and tertiary level (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 2002b). The report o f the Task Force on the Physical Sciences (2002) included a number of recommendations in relation to science at primary level, which included improving the quality o f science teaching, in-career developm ent for teachers and the establishment o f an integrated national science awareness programme. This study revealed that incorporating explicit approaches to NoS as part o f the Science Curriculum increased teachers\u27 and pupils\u27 interest in and enjoyment o f science. If the development o f NoS was included as a core aim in the Primary Science Curriculum, primary children could become more interested in science, which may in turn lead to an increase in the uptake o f science beyond the point o f choice