Exploration of the variety of teachers’ VNOS in China: Is the “step-over development” approach effective?

Abstract

Abstract To improve the effectiveness of science teacher training, with regard to the impact of Chinese culture on teachers’ views on the nature of science (VNOS), a nationwide survey of primary science teachers was performed in China in 2013. The primary findings showed that the participants could be classified into four groups through cluster analysis according to their characteristics of classic VNOS and modern VNOS among the groups: the Ambiguous group (AG), Post-modernist group (PG), Classic group (CG) and Modern group (MG). Despite slight uncertainty between the CG and MG, the scores of VNOS knowledge application in both daily life and classroom teaching increased largely from the AG, PG, and CG to the MG, and the differences in these scores among the four groups were statistically significant. These findings seem to imply that the post-modernist stage occurs prior to the classic stage in certain Chinese teachers’ VNOS development, which notably contrasts with the historical processes of both science and science teacher training practices in developed countries. Moreover, the AG and PG had the longest training times among the four groups, which might indicate that science teacher training programmes in China were ineffective for these teachers. Unlike in Western countries, Chinese traditional culture lacks basic elements of scientific concepts. The society has not experienced the entire process of the development of science. Thus, Chinese teacher training programmes should pay attention to the progression from the classic VNOS to the modern VNOS and should be cautious of the “step-over development” approach.

Keywords

• Classic and modern VNOS
• Nature of science
• Chinese culture
• Science teacher training