Investigation of the Science Teachers' Views on Nature of Science: A Case of Bangladeshi Primary Schools

The present study aims to explore the science teachers' views on nature of science in primary schools of Bangladesh. By using translated (in Bengali) version of views on nature of science form-B (VNOS-B) survey and follow up interviews, qualitative data was collected from purposively selected ten science teachers. The VNOS-B data collection instrument is a six item, open ended questionnaire designed to elicit descriptive responses to generally agreed NOS aspects: tentative, empirical, inferential, creative, and subjective NOS, as well as the functions of, and relationships between theories and laws. Responses were analyzed into coded categories of informed, uninformed Naive, and ambiguous. The results of the study revealed a picture of the primary science teachers ' views as well as misconceptions on nature of science. Their views are mostly traditional (naive) on nature of science and incoherent. The results of the study indicated that science teachers held traditional views regarding inference and theoretical entities, distinction and relationship between theories and laws, empirical, creative and imaginative nature of scientific knowledge. On the other hand, the participants have contemporary views (informed) on tentative and subjective nature of scientific knowledge. Analysis of interviews also supported these findings. Therefore, this study suggests further investigating on how the pedagogies of teacher education represent the NOS and what aspects of the NOS are communicated to the teachers through these pedagogies to find deeper understanding about the NOS.