Development of pre-service teachers’ understanding of the nature of science through an interdisciplinary curriculum: A case study

Abstract

In the research, the purpose was to implement and evaluate an interdisciplinary curriculum that aimed at developing social sciences pre-service teachers’ understanding and knowledge about the nature of science. This research was based on case study design. In order to collect the research data, the methods of observation, interview and document analysis were used. For the analysis of the data, the inductive content analysis approach was applied. The results of the analysis demonstrated that the curriculum implemented had positive influence on the pre-service teachers’ understanding and knowledge about the nature of science. In this respect, it was found that the curriculum helped develop the participants’ lack of skills and knowledge about the subjects related to “nature of scientific models, nature of observations and values guiding scientists in their work and social lives” included in the content of nature of science. In addition, it was revealed that the pre-service teachers’ lack of readiness made the implementation process difficult.