High school students' views of the nature of science
Thesis (M.Ed.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1991. Education Bibliography: leaves 127-134. This study examined high school students' views of the nature of science. A stratified random sample of 32 students chosen from nine schools in eastern and central Newfoundland were interviewed on...
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ftmemorialunivdc:oai:collections.mun.ca:theses2/201412 2023-05-15T17:23:31+02:00 High school students' views of the nature of science Barry, Maurice A. Memorial University of Newfoundland. Faculty of Education 1990 viii, 222 leaves. Image/jpeg; Application/pdf http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/theses2/id/201412 Eng eng Electronic Theses and Dissertations (25.84 MB) -- http://collections.mun.ca/PDFs/theses/Barry_MauriceA.pdf 76083109 http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/theses2/id/201412 The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. Paper copy kept in the Centre for Newfoundland Studies, Memorial University Libraries Science--Public opinion Science--Study and teaching (Secondary) Text Electronic thesis or dissertation 1990 ftmemorialunivdc 2015-08-06T19:17:16Z Thesis (M.Ed.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1991. Education Bibliography: leaves 127-134. This study examined high school students' views of the nature of science. A stratified random sample of 32 students chosen from nine schools in eastern and central Newfoundland were interviewed on an individual basis. The interviews were semi-structured and were administered in general accordance with an interview guide. The transcripts were reduced to a set of individualized conceptual inventories. The frequency of occurrence of each representative statement was tallied and tabulated. A number of general trends were identified. Most students were found to have difficulty establishing the domain of science although many tended to view the practice of science as cumulative. Although the majority of the sample asserted that scientific information was tentative and provisional, they tended to regard factual information in science to be absolute and irrefutable. Scientific theories appeared to be only understood in a naive sense in that most subjects regarded theories as suggested explanations for fairly discrete events as opposed to elaborate interpretive frameworks. In accordance with previously documented evidence (Aikenhead, 1987) many subjects were found to equate the term "scientific law" with the more common legal usage of the word. Finally, elements of what Nadeau and Desautels (1984) term as naive realism, blissful empiricism, credulous experimentalism and excessive rationalism were found to be quite prevalent in the transcripts. Thesis Newfoundland studies University of Newfoundland Memorial University of Newfoundland: Digital Archives Initiative (DAI) |
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Memorial University of Newfoundland: Digital Archives Initiative (DAI) |
op_collection_id |
ftmemorialunivdc |
language |
English |
topic |
Science--Public opinion Science--Study and teaching (Secondary) |
spellingShingle |
Science--Public opinion Science--Study and teaching (Secondary) Barry, Maurice A. High school students' views of the nature of science |
topic_facet |
Science--Public opinion Science--Study and teaching (Secondary) |
description |
Thesis (M.Ed.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1991. Education Bibliography: leaves 127-134. This study examined high school students' views of the nature of science. A stratified random sample of 32 students chosen from nine schools in eastern and central Newfoundland were interviewed on an individual basis. The interviews were semi-structured and were administered in general accordance with an interview guide. The transcripts were reduced to a set of individualized conceptual inventories. The frequency of occurrence of each representative statement was tallied and tabulated. A number of general trends were identified. Most students were found to have difficulty establishing the domain of science although many tended to view the practice of science as cumulative. Although the majority of the sample asserted that scientific information was tentative and provisional, they tended to regard factual information in science to be absolute and irrefutable. Scientific theories appeared to be only understood in a naive sense in that most subjects regarded theories as suggested explanations for fairly discrete events as opposed to elaborate interpretive frameworks. In accordance with previously documented evidence (Aikenhead, 1987) many subjects were found to equate the term "scientific law" with the more common legal usage of the word. Finally, elements of what Nadeau and Desautels (1984) term as naive realism, blissful empiricism, credulous experimentalism and excessive rationalism were found to be quite prevalent in the transcripts. |
author2 |
Memorial University of Newfoundland. Faculty of Education |
format |
Thesis |
author |
Barry, Maurice A. |
author_facet |
Barry, Maurice A. |
author_sort |
Barry, Maurice A. |
title |
High school students' views of the nature of science |
title_short |
High school students' views of the nature of science |
title_full |
High school students' views of the nature of science |
title_fullStr |
High school students' views of the nature of science |
title_full_unstemmed |
High school students' views of the nature of science |
title_sort |
high school students' views of the nature of science |
publishDate |
1990 |
url |
http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/theses2/id/201412 |
genre |
Newfoundland studies University of Newfoundland |
genre_facet |
Newfoundland studies University of Newfoundland |
op_source |
Paper copy kept in the Centre for Newfoundland Studies, Memorial University Libraries |
op_relation |
Electronic Theses and Dissertations (25.84 MB) -- http://collections.mun.ca/PDFs/theses/Barry_MauriceA.pdf 76083109 http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/theses2/id/201412 |
op_rights |
The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. |
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1766112965501648896 |