How Do Preservice Science Teachers’ Personal Epistemological Beliefs Differ for Different Levels of Nature of Science Views?

İngilizce (OpenAlex)

This study aimed to investigate whether there were any differences in preservice science teachers' personal epistemological beliefs for different levels of nature of science (NOS) views (naïve, has merit, informed).The NOS views were examined concerning two aspects: theory-driven nature of observations and tentativeness of scientific knowledge.A total of 277 preservice science teachers participated in the study.Data collection was carried out in 2017-2018 academic year spring semester.The Epistemic Beliefs Inventory and two modified items of the Views on Science-Technology-Society were used to gather data.Mean values corresponding to the dimensions of epistemological beliefs revealed that participants failed to show a high level of sophistication.Differences were observed in the sophistication of participants' views on the theory-driven nature of observations and tentativeness of scientific knowledge.The results revealed no statistically significant differences in participants' personal epistemological beliefs for the levels of their views regarding the theory-driven nature of observations and tentativeness of scientific knowledge.Possible reasons for the findings regarding personal epistemological beliefs, NOS views, and nonsignificant differences in participants' personal epistemological beliefs for different levels of NOS views were discussed.Implications for science teacher education were provided.