A comparison of trained and untrained science teachers' views about certain aspects of the nature of science

This paper reports on results of a simple paper-pen questionnaire study involving certain key aspects of the nature of science. The questionnaire covers, among other things, aspects such as uniqueness of the scientific method, objectivity of scientific data, and immutability of scientific laws. The survey was given out to trainee teachers enrolled in the pre-service post graduate diploma in education (secondary) i.e. PGDE (S) programme while they were doing their curriculum studies at the National Institute of Education (NIE), Singapore. A similar questionnaire was given out to in-service teachers at the beginning of their in-service courses at the same institute. These trained teachers comprised two groups. One group was enrolled in a diploma in departmental management (DDM) course in secondary science. The other group comprised teachers enrolled in the part time Master in Education (Science Education Specialization) i.e., the MEd (Sc Ed) course. The views of these trained or in-service teachers were compared with those of the trainee teachers in this paper.

Keywords: Curriculum and specific curriculum areas - Sciences