Diana’s  Nature of Science Profile

• What do the overall scores in each cluster reveal about your view of knowledge?

1.       Relativism to Positivism (+12)

My score here indicates that I greatly value facts in Science and rely on tested and proven theories rather than interpretation.  It would suggest that I tend to see knowledge as ‘black and white’ rather than shades of grey.   I would however like to add that I do encourage my students (and myself) to test and retest their predictions/hypotheses and challenge what is fact.  Nothing is concrete in Science forever!

2.       Inductive to Deductive (-3)

According to my score, I value inductive reasoning slightly more.  I would agree with this since inductive reasoning is more open-ended and exploratory. Deductive reasoning tends to be more narrow in scope and does not lend itself well to discovery learning which I believe I promote when I facilitate learning.

3.       Contextualism to De-Contextualism  (-3)

In terms of Science I believe that the context/culture will impact and effect scientific explorations and interpretations of results.  The context can be very important in a scientific investigation but it can also detrimentally influence the results and conclusions that are drawn and this is not beneficial to the global scientific knowledge base.  This is why I believe in re-testing and hypothesising to disprove or discredit.  We should never be too comfortable with what is scientific fact.  The next technological innovation may bring new evidence to light and completely revolutionize what we believe.

4.       Process to Content (+4)

My score here suggests that I value content slightly more that the process that acquires it.  I don’t really believe this so it is interesting that my rankings resulted in this score.  I certainly value knowledge/facts but in science I think the most valuable skill that the students can acquire in how to conduct a scientific exploration.  The whole Predict-Observe-Explain process and the Scientifc Method to me are more valuable than memorizing a bunch of theories.  Logical approaches to science are necessary but the inquiry angle is more important- we must nurture that natural curiosity and engage students through questioning and collecting evident to prove their predictions.

5.       Instrumentalism to Realism (+7)

A score of +7 indicates that the realist within me, who is interested primarily in causes, has a greater influence than the instrumentalist, who is happy with the best quantitative description of any observations.  In other words the scientific concepts and theories to me are only useful instruments if they can help to explain or predict phenomena.

• What do they reveal about your belief system that you did not know before?

These results challenged me to think about what I actually believe in terms of Science.  It forced me to articulate what I believe pedagogically as well.  It highlighted that I believe in the process of knowledge itself.

• What do the profiles reveal about how you perceive knowledge and truth?

Knowledge of the truth is epistemology and I seem to perceive that knowledge and truth are obtained through a process- this process is affected by context and based in fact.  I believe that knowledge is constructed and that it is profoundly influenced by social groups. Epistemology is founded in the ability to explore, think critically and less based on trialled methodologies.  I don’t believe that my NOS profile is a true representation of my belief system however it did engage my critical thinking.

• How is knowledge acquired?

ü  Looking, listening, investigating, trial and error and touching.

ü  Reading, speaking, dialoguing and experimenting

ü  Co-constructing

ü  Exploring and testing.  Re-testing.  Applying a proven process to arrive at reliable results.

• What is truth?

Difficult to say!  What I believe may or may not be the truth.  A belief can be mistaken but the truth is infallible. So how can we ever be sure that what we believe is the truth?  Perhaps the answer is epistemology, perhaps the answer is found by testing our beliefs using the scientific method.