A reflective-explicit instructional approach during a technology-based Curriculum to enhance students' understanding of the Nature of Science

Abstract

This study examined the effect of a reflective-explicit instructional approach during a technology-based curriculum on the understanding of the nature of science (NOS) within an introductory college biology course. The study emphasized the tentative, empirical, creative and imaginative aSpects of the NOS. The technology utilized in the study was the Struggle for Survival program that uses a simulated data based upon the finch population on the Galapagos Island Daphne Major. A reflective-explicit instruction of the target NOS aspects served as the intervention. The randomly selected sample of the study included 112 students, 54 male and 58 female. Selected items of the Views of Nature of Science Questionnaire-C (VNOS-C) in combination with semi-structured interviews were used to evaluate students’ NOS views before and at the  completion of the intervention. Before the intervention, the majority of students held naive views of the target NOS aSpects. At the end of study, students demonstrated more articulate informed views of the target NOS aSpects. The results of this study indicated that a reflective-explicit instructional approach coupled with a technology-based curriculum had a positive effect on the understandin of the NOS as ects.