Contextualized Questionnaire for Investigating Conceptions of the Nature of Science: Procedure and Principles for Elaboration

Abstract

The chapter signalizes the importance of the research on Nature of Science (NOS), illustrating how it is maturing in Brazil. The work reports on the procedure employed during the elaboration of a contextualized instrument using Ecology as a model for investigating NOS conceptions among Biological Science undergraduates. The authors propose orientation and principles that contribute toward research procedures, justifying the epistemological and methodological decisions. They also present strategies used for evaluating instrument efficacy, with a question grid constructed, in addition to the procedure and the principles adopted. This strategy furnished an explicit and critical manner of creating new questionnaires that deepened the analysis of the students’ conceptions of NOS.