The Primary Students’ Understanding of Scientific Models through Epistemological and Ontological Perspective

Abstract

Achieving the targets of science education mostly depends on the true understanding of the fundamentals where science and the scientific efforts are embedded through the realist ontology and epistemology that science is based on. Models have a special place in science education revealing to understand the nature and status of scientific knowledge. By considering this function of models, this research puts forward the views of the primary students on scientific models. The participants of this qualitative survey research are twenty-eight 7th graders of a primary school in Izmir, Turkey. The participants are given a questionnaire and a worksheet, which were developed by the researchers, addressing both epistemological and ontological character of models. The results showed that students have generally moderate understanding of models through perceptual and ordinary reality.