High school students' views of Nature of Science in discussion settings, when biographies are incorporated into science class

Abstract

In this research work we characterize the Nature of Science views of students in whose science classes historical aspects are incorporated from a biographical perspective, assuming that they provide a school experience with the potential to transform the positivist visions that persist in schools. The qualitative analysis of the data from four case studies, obtained through a questionnaire and focus group, allowed us to characterize the predominant students' Nature of Science views. The results suggest that participating students clearly identify the epistemic aspects, considering scientific knowledge as a subjective and tentative set of representations of scientists about the natural world. However, they are not able to clearly establish non epistemic aspects, as the role of social negotiation or the cultural impact on the development of science, because they conceive scientific activity in a personal rather than a social dimension. This shows the need to move towards the visibility of the controversial, culturally diverse and socially located features of science in school scientific biographies, and of scientific activity as an academic practice, so that this teaching strategy has greater potential to contribute to the students' holistic understanding of the Nature of Science.