Author:

Keywords:

science education, nature of science, _none

Abstract:

To increase the scientific literacy among students and to stimulate their critical reflection about science, educating about the Nature of Science (NoS) is crucial. NoS entails a focus on the central epistemological underpinnings of science, such as its realm and limits, its levels of uncertainty, its biases and the reasons for its reliability. Following the principles of design-based research we developed a teaching method to increase the understanding of NoS among (student) science teachers and to increase their didactic skills to address NoS in the science class. In our approach, the philosophical dialogue is used to elicit reflection about NoS. Observations and interviews of student teachers and teacher educators during and after the intervention show that the philosophical dialogue is promising as it helps to uncover preconceptions about science by making thinking explicit. However, mastering the philosophical dialogue takes time.