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Third, the nature of science is the underst<strong>an</strong>ding of science as a social<br />

enterprise. Science is expressed using <strong>an</strong> interpreted l<strong>an</strong>guage which refers to the<br />

objects, phenomena <strong>an</strong>d events of the natural world. Science operates in its social<br />

org<strong>an</strong>ization <strong>an</strong>d its mech<strong>an</strong>isms for receiving, checking <strong>an</strong>d validating knowledge<br />

claims. In addition, <strong>an</strong> awareness of the possible influence of social commitments,<br />

values, interpretation <strong>an</strong>d culture that could affect the underst<strong>an</strong>ding of science is<br />

import<strong>an</strong>t.<br />

Underst<strong>an</strong>ding the nature of science is also identified <strong>an</strong>d presented in three<br />

main statements from McComas <strong>an</strong>d Olson’s (1998: 44-48) study of national science<br />

education st<strong>an</strong>dards documents as:<br />

- Scientific knowledge is tentative<br />

- Science relies on empirical evidence<br />

- Science is <strong>an</strong> attempt to explain phenomena<br />

- New knowledge must be reported clearly <strong>an</strong>d openly<br />

- Scientists make ethical decisions<br />

- Scientists require: accurate record keeping, replicability <strong>an</strong>d truthful<br />

reporting<br />

- Scientists are creative<br />

- Ch<strong>an</strong>ge in science occurs gradually<br />

- Science has global implications<br />

- Science is part of social tradition<br />

- Scientific ideas are affected by their social <strong>an</strong>d historical milieu.<br />

In this study, the nature of science is the underst<strong>an</strong>dings of why scientists have<br />

to study scientific knowledge, how they study the knowledge <strong>an</strong>d how they c<strong>an</strong><br />

develop the knowledge within a socio-culture. In other words, scientists study science<br />

because they aim to explain natural phenomena. The expl<strong>an</strong>ation developed stems<br />

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