Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, Doha, Qatar.
CBE Life Sci Educ. 2013 Spring;12(1):80-91. doi: 10.1187/cbe.12-02-0020.
The leap from science student to scientist involves recognizing that science is a tentative, evolving body of knowledge that is socially constructed and culturally influenced; this is known as The Nature of Science (NOS). The aim of this study was to document NOS growth in first-year premedical students who participated in a science book club as a curricular option. The club read three acclaimed nonfiction works that connect biology to medicine via the history of scientific ideas. Students' NOS status was assessed as informed, transitional, or naïve at the beginning and end of the academic year using the Views of Nature of Science Questionnaire-Form C (VNOS-C). Focus group interviews and document analysis of assignments and exams provided qualitative evidence. VNOS-C scores improved over the academic year regardless of book club participation. Students who participated in book club had marginally better NOS status at the end of the year but also at the beginning, suggesting that book club may have attracted rather than produced students with higher NOS status. It is notable that an improvement in NOS understanding could be detected at all, as there have been few reports of NOS growth in the literature in which NOS was not an explicit topic of instruction.
从理科学生到科学家的转变需要认识到，科学是一个试探性的、不断发展的知识体系，受到社会构建和文化影响；这就是所谓的“科学本质”（NOS）。本研究的目的是记录参与科学读书俱乐部作为课程选择的医预学生的 NOS 增长情况。该俱乐部阅读了三本广受好评的非小说类作品，通过科学思想的历史将生物学与医学联系起来。学生的 NOS 状态在学年开始和结束时使用《科学本质观问卷-Form C》（VNOS-C）进行评估，分为知情、过渡和幼稚。焦点小组访谈和作业与考试的文档分析提供了定性证据。无论是否参加读书俱乐部，VNOS-C 分数在整个学年都有所提高。参加读书俱乐部的学生在学年结束时和开始时的 NOS 状态都略有提高，这表明读书俱乐部可能吸引了而不是产生了具有更高 NOS 状态的学生。值得注意的是，NOS 理解的提高在所有情况下都可以检测到，因为在 NOS 不是明确教学主题的文献中，很少有关于 NOS 增长的报道。
