Middle school science teachers’ understanding of nature of science: A q-method study

Abstract

Science education programs aim to develop scientific literacy. “Nature of Science” (NOS) has beenrecognized as an important part of scientific literacy, and science teachers are the crucial actors to achievethis goal. The purpose of this Q-method study is to describe how middle school science teachers understandNOS. The subjects for this study were six middle school in-service science teachers. Statements from theNature of Science Scale (NOSS) were used for a Q-sort and then analyzed to determine teachers’ subjectiveunderstanding of NOS. The analysis involved rotating the Q sorts using graphical and varimax rotations andthen extracting the significant factors. According to analysis, the results indicate the teachers in this studybelieved that there is only one scientific method that all scientists should follow it. Also, they thought thatthe importance of team research and the purpose of scientific work to be for the betterment of human life.