EVALUATION OF USING STORIES OF SCIENTIST LIVES BASED ON TEACHER VIEWS

Abstract

This study is a part of an ongoing national project aiming to promote the use of HOS in science lessons in Turkey. For the study, educative HOS materials have been developed and prepared for classroom use at secondary level. A section of each material is devoted to stories of scientist lives. The life story of the scientist includes biographical information. Four chemistry teachers received the materials either in electronic or hard copy format and were asked to read, reflect on and use the materials or parts of the materials in their chemistry lessons. During the interviews the teachers were asked to talk about issues such as the general structure of the materials, the content of the stories that they preferred to use, their purposes of using that content, the way that they used it in classroom, and any suggestions that they may have for improvement. We conclude that using stories of scientist lives may serve two pedagogical purposes: preserving student attention in science lessons and humanization of science. For these purposes to be achieved, HOS information such as stories of scientist lives needs to find its place in science curricula and curriculum materials like textbooks.