The Design Principle of the Module
In thedomain of‘Scienceand Living-Technology’,teaching activitiescan arrangetrue environment of science construction if teachers carried on teaching activities with viewpoints of history of science (Fig 1). Therefore, integrating information of historical fact in the process of scientific discoveries when designing teaching activities can let students understand the process of scientific discoveries, realize the nature of science and methods and spirits of scientific inquiry.
According above advantages, the teaching module of this study integrated meteorological history of science into the teaching and learning materials. The design principle was as follows: (1)Select the importantscienceconcepts;(2)Analyzeitshistoricalcontexts;(3)Explain thescientists’work with
history of science
Fig 1. Learning activities to promote understanding of NOS
according to
explict approach
use
establish
match
understanding of NOS hence promoting
students experience
narrative modes and asking of teaching strategies
and
reflective discussion of integrated history activities to promote
understanding of NOS adopt
implicit approach teachers
teaching objectives of
NOS
by adopt
related referrences
the way of students’apprehensibility;(4)Citethecontentmostdirectly related to experiencesof students.
The Content of the Module
The researchers analyzed the content of the textbook that was adopted by the participant school and designed an instructional module (Fig 2) matched with the lesson scheduled progress and examination arrangement of the participant school. The units, activities and teaching methods of the instructional module are shown in Table 1.
Table 1:The Units, Activities, and Teaching Methods of the Meteorological Story Instructional Module
Name of Unit Name of Activities (Story Name or Topic explored) Teaching Methods Meteorology and You (Meteorology is vitally related to
people’slife)
watch the film, group discussion
Meteorology and life
Secret of Nature (Men observe nature to create science) historical case study The creation of science (the origin of the wind and the
cloud)
experiment, group discussion
Change! Change! Change! Scientific knowledge just change? (The giants Affecting meteorological research:
Aristotle and Descartes)
interactive historical vignettes
Knowledge of Meteorology
Who changed science? (The father of British meteorology: Robert Hooke)
interactive historical vignettes
Hey! Hey! Hey! How to prove my ideas? (The thought pioneer of experimental science in the modern age: a scientist of Middle Ages－Roger Bacon)
interactive historical vignettes
Scientists’Ideas(scienceheroeswho borrow lightfrom God)
role playing Meteorology
and Science Methods
Methods of Science Progress historical case study Search thescientists’tracks data Collection, role playing, sharing and inspection
Science and Society (small stories of three meteorologists in modern age)
historical case study Scientific
Enterprise of Meteorology
Evolution of Meteorological history that improve our lives
historical case study
Fig 2. The prototype diagram of a meteorological story Instructional Module
Hey! Hey! Hey! Howto prove my ideas?
The creation of
science
Change! Change!
Change! Scientific knowledge just change?
Who changed science?
Search the scientists’tracks Enterprise of Meteorology
Meteorology and Science
Methods
Meteorology and Life Evolution of
Meteorological history that improve our
lives
Meteorology and You
Secret of Nature
Represents the name of the module Represents names of the units
Represents names of the activies
Instrument
ElementaryStudents’Understanding ofNatureofScienceInstrument
The development and field testing for the ElementaryStudents’Understanding ofNatureof Science (ESUNOS) instrument followed the steps in the paper of Rubba & Andersen (1978). It contains 30 items with 15 positive items and 15 negative items. The conceptual contents of the ESUNOS instrument cover the following NOS aspects: the nature of scientific knowledge, the nature of scientific inquiry and the nature of scientific enterprise. The researchers established the ESUNOS Item-to-Subscale Key showed in Table 2. Positive items are scored by allocating 4 for Strongly Agree, 3 for Agree, 2 for Disagree and 1 for Strongly Disagree. Negative statements are scored in the reverse manner. To obtain scale totals, the item scores for each scale are added.
At the early stage of the instrument development, the researchers selected a small samples of third and fourth grade students to read the item statements aloud to make sure whether the students can understand the meaning of the item statements or not. In addition, the researchers asked science educators, scientists and science philosophers to review the questionnaire and revised the item statements according to their opinions to establish the content validity. On the other hand, the researchers administrated the questionnaire to 222 third and fourth grade students from Kaohsiung County, Kaohsiung City and Pingtung County of five elementary schools. The Cronbach α ofthe instrument was .854.
Table 2: The ESUNOS Item-to-Subscale Key
Subscale Aspects Positive Item No. Negative Item No.
Cumulation 30 1
Tentativeness 7 10
Replication 27 29
Publicity 18 15
Nature of Scientific Knowledge
Creativity 4 20
Positivity 21 26
Unsingularity 8, 23 5, 2 Nature of
Scientific
Inquiry Theory-Ladenness 16, 13 11, 19
Ethics 3 6
Science & Technology 22 14 Science & Society 9 12 The Status of Scientists 24 25 Nature of
Scientific Enterprise
Scientific Community 28 17 Nature of Science Performance Interview with Nodding Chicken Instrument
Referring to Van Cleave(1998)concerning thestepsin ‘Nodding Chicken Toy’sciencegame, the researchers developed the Nature of Science Performance with Nodding Chicken (NOSPNC) assessment with scoring criteria. This assessment was reviewed by science philosophers, scientists, science educators, and elementary science teachers to establish the content validity. In addition, the raters reliability was also well established by three raters with the Pearson product-moment
correlation coefficients ranging from .999~1.000 (p＜ .01). The researchers used this assessment to interview students.Thepurposeofthisinterview isto understand students’viewpointsaboutthe nature of scientific knowledge and inquiry. The relation between the question and the aspect of the nature of science are showed in Table 3.
Table 3: The Relation between the Question and the Aspect of NOS in the NOSPINCI Instrument
1. Operation Procedures:
1) Get an empty beverage bottle to put in a freezer about 30 minutes; another one does not put in a freezer.
2) Draw a lovely rooster on the paper; shear and stick it on the coin with the double-stick tape 3) Take out the empty beverage bottle from the freezer
4) Wet the coin, then put it on the top of the empty beverage bottle, and check the coin if it can seal up the bottle
5) Rub quickly back and forth for 20 times with the hands 6) Grip the empty beverage bottle with the hands
7) Take out the another empty beverage bottle which does not put into a freezer, and follow the step 4-6 to do one more time
2. Scenario:
The students play the ‘Nodding Chicken Toy’sciencegametwice, then answer the following questions:
Item Asepect
Q1.Why doesthechicken’head willnod?
a. What are your ideas?
b. What methods you want to use to prove your ideas?
Positivity Q2. Why your ideas are different from others? Theory-Ladenness
Unsingularity Q3. Operate this game two times, would the results be similar?
a. same ( ) your reason: ( ) b. different ( ) your reason: ( )
Replication Q4. Do you need to tell other classmates publicly and clearly after understanding the reason
that the rooster nods?
a. yes ( ) your reason: ( ) b. no ( ) your reason: ( )
Publicity
Nature of Scientific Enterprise Interview with Scenario Diagram Instrument
The researchers drew a diagram in which a scientist is in a reservoir and developed some questions to form the Nature of Scientific Enterprise Interview with Scenario Diagram (NOSEISD) Instrument. The researchers used this assessment to interview students. The purpose of this interview is to understand students’ viewpoints about the nature of scientific enterprise.
Science Learning Interest Instrument
Referencing to the Science Attitude questionnaire of Chuang (1997) and the Learning Interest questionnaire of Lin (1997), the researchers developed The Science Learning Interest (SLI)
instrument. The SLI Item-to-Subscale Key is shown in Table 4. TheCronbach α oftheinstrument was .831
Table 4: The SLI Item-to-Subscale Key
Subscale Item No.
Attitude toward science 3. 4. 8. 18. 24.
Learning climate 1. 7. 11. 19. 20 Learning difficulty 2. 5. 6. 9. 17 Learning engagement 10. 12. 13. 21. 23 Learning Participation 14. 15. 16. 22. 25