an innovative approach

1. Aspects of the Nature of Science
McComas, Clough and Almazroa (1998: 4) described the nature of science as
… a fertile hybrid arena which blends aspects of various social
studies of science including the history, sociology, and philosophy
of science combined with research from the cognitive sciences such
as psychology into a rich description of what science is, how it
works, how scientists operate as a social group and how society
itself both directs and reacts to scientific endeavours. . .
Also, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS,
1989), Matthews (1998: 988) and Driver et al. (1996: 12-15) noted that the
understanding of the nature of science was a goal of science education present in most
definitions of science literacy. This understanding was communicated within the
disciplines of philosophy, history, sociology and psychology of science which could
be described as the following three aspects:
First, the nature of science is the understanding of some aspects of scientific
knowledge: facts, laws, concepts and theories about the natural world. Driver et al.
(1996: 42-44) also suggested that the nature of science for students should be
presented mainly 1) with the view of the purpose of scientific work – science aims to
explain natural phenomena and 2) with the understanding of the nature and status of
scientific knowledge.
Second, the nature of science is the understanding of the scientific approach
to inquiry. This involves an epistemological consideration. The inquiry needs
planning and carrying out within a framework of scientific conceptual and theoretical
knowledge. The framework could be limited by different understandings of the role
of observation, experiments and the relationship between evidence and theory.
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