مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - An Investigation of Primary Education Department Students’ Views about the Nature of Science in terms of Gender and Class Variables

Abstract :

The main objective of this research is to analyze primary education department 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th year students‟ perspectives about the nature of the science. Also, the study has revealed the students‟ profiles in the sub-categories of the nature of the science regarding some variables such as gender and class. The study is a descriptive survey research. The research was conducted with 492 Çukurova University and Mustafa Kemal University, Education Faculty, Primary Education Department 1st,2nd, 3rd and 4th year students in the academic year of 2012-2013. The data was collected through “the Inventory of the Point of Views about the Nature of the Science” and Personal Information Form. The results of the study have shown that the students employ positivism, deductivism, decontextualism, content and realism profiles in terms of the sub-categories of the nature of science. It has been observed that the students‟ views about the sub-categories of the nature of science have differed regarding gender and class. As a result; in this study, it has been seen that the dominant view about the nature of science among the students is positivism. In our time when the positivism has been questioned, why the students have such a view should be further investigated.