Research on relationships between two kinds of scientific epistemology held by high school science teachers from Beijing and New York

Abstract

Scientific epistemology is important issues in the International science education, of which teachers’ views of nature of science and scientific inquiry as the two core topics, become the principal part of research, also have an important influence on the theory and practice of science curriculum. The purpose of this study was to investigate and compare the relationship between views of NOS and SI held by high school science teachers from Beijing and New York. This sequential mixed research method study involved 102 high school science teachers, each 51 high school science teachers from Beijing and New York, through questionnaires Views of nature of Science-Form C (VNOS-D) and Views of Scientific Inquiry-Form S (VOSI-S), followed by in-depth interviews responses. This investigation indicated that science teachers’ views of two kinds of scientific epistemology were at different stages, categories and causality, and therefore, it has great effect on the cultural research in science education.