PRE-SERVICE SCIENCE TEACHERS' SUBJECT MATTER KNOWLEDGE OF NATURE OF SCIENCE

Abstract

In this study aims to determine the status of pre-service science teachers' subject matter knowledge of nature of science (SMK of NOS) and investigate in which contents they are inadequate, if any, and/or they have naive views about the nature of science. 89 pre-service science teachers who are studying in the 4th grade of Science Education Department in Gazi University of Turkey participated in the study. SMK of NOS of the pre-service teachers is determined by the researcher using "Views on The Nature of Science (VONS)" questionnaire which is adapted to Turkish from VOSTS (Views on Science-Technology-Society) questionnaire. In this survey study descriptive model is used. In this regard, the pre-service teachers' responses on the VONS are analyzed based on subject matter experts' encodings. According to the results, pre-service science teachers have enough SMK about some issues such as tentativeness of scientific knowledge, scientific approach for researches and public influence on scientists. However, SMK of NOS of pre-service science teachers is not in a level to develop the students' level of understandings and knowledge of NOS. Pre-service teachers' insufficient SMKs are related to scientific theories, laws and hypothesis also their epistemological status and nature of scientific models