Ioannidou Olga, Erduran Sibel
Department of Education University of Oxford, 15 Norham Gardens, Oxford, OX2 6PY UK.
Sci Educ (Dordr). 2021;30(2):345-364. doi: 10.1007/s11191-020-00185-9. Epub 2021 Feb 6.
Recent reforms in science education have promoted students' understanding of how science works, including the methodological approaches used by scientists. Given that teachers are expected to teach and promote methodological pluralism, it is worth examining how teachers understand and view scientific methods, particularly when scientific methods are presented as a diverse array and not as a linear model based exclusively on hypothesis testing The empirical study presented in the paper examines science teachers' understanding of scientific methods, particularly the diversity of scientific methods. Brandon's Matrix, a philosopher's account of scientific methods, has been adapted for educational purposes, and two tasks were developed in order to investigate teachers' understanding of scientific methods. Fifty-six science teachers (25% male, 75% female) from different regions in the UK responded to an online survey The results showed that the majority of the teachers showed satisfactory understanding of basic components of Brandon's Matrix. However, more than half of the sample held naïve understanding of scientific methods. By providing insight into teachers' misconceptions about scientific methods, the study provides suggestions for the design of teacher training programmes and highlights the need for explicit instruction about scientific methods. In addition, we suggest the use of heuristics such as Brandon's Matrix for the development of pedagogical tools as well as research instruments.
近期科学教育改革促进了学生对科学运作方式的理解，包括科学家所采用的方法论途径。鉴于期望教师教授并推广方法论多元主义，审视教师如何理解和看待科学方法是很有必要的，尤其是当科学方法被呈现为一个多样的集合，而非仅基于假设检验的线性模型时。本文所呈现的实证研究考察了科学教师对科学方法的理解，特别是科学方法的多样性。哲学家对科学方法的描述——布兰登矩阵，已被改编用于教育目的，并开发了两项任务以调查教师对科学方法的理解。来自英国不同地区的56名科学教师（25%为男性，75%为女性）参与了一项在线调查。结果显示，大多数教师对布兰登矩阵的基本组成部分表现出了令人满意的理解。然而，超过一半的样本对科学方法持有天真的理解。通过深入了解教师对科学方法的误解，该研究为教师培训项目的设计提供了建议，并突出了对科学方法进行明确教学的必要性。此外，我们建议使用诸如布兰登矩阵这样的启发式方法来开发教学工具以及研究工具。
