Nature of Science
NOS Card Exchange
• Step 1: Obtain 8 cards (that are
different from one another).
• Step 2: Trade cards with classmates
in order to amass a better collection
of cards. (Your collection improves as
the cards more accurately express
your views on science.)
• Find a partner with similar views and
select the 8 “best cards” from the 16
that you have collectively. (Each of
you must contribute at least 2
cards.)
• Make a group of 4 and select the 8
“best cards.”
• Using the remaining cards, write a
statement which describes your
group’s notion of the Nature of
Science.
VNOS(c)
• What in your view is science? What makes
science different from other disciplines of
inquiry?
• What is an experiment?
• Does the development of scientific
knowledge require experiments?
• After scientists have developed a
scientific theory, does the theory every
change?
• Is there a difference between a scientific
theory and a scientific law?
• How certain are you about the structure
of an atom? What specific evidence do you
think scientists used to determine what an
atom looks like?
• How certain are scientists about their
characterization of what a species is?
What specific evidence do you think
scientists used to determine what a
species is?
• Does science reflect social and cultural
values or is it universal?
• Do scientists employ creativity in their
investigations? If so where and how?
What is the Nature of
Science (NOS)?
• Science cannot be singularly (and definitively)
defined because it is interpreted in different
ways by different people.
• Methods such as the card sort and NOS surveys
encourage students to think specifically about
their views on science.
• Scientists, science educators & philosophers of
science have proposed some consensus views on
NOS.
• Views on NOS describe how the scientific
enterprise operates.
Consensus Views on NOS
• Empirically-based
– Scientific knowledge is based on evidence.
• Testable
– Scientific ideas can be theoretically falsified through
evidentiary tests.
• Tentative, yet Reliable
– Scientific ideas can change given new data or new
interpretations
• Developmental
– Scientific ideas are often built on earlier ideas.
Consensus NOS Views
• Creative
– Scientists employ creativity in posing
questions, collecting data, and interpreting
data. (What does this suggest about “The
Scientific Method?)
• Parsimonious
– Given multiple explanations, scientists tend to
favor the simplest one that maintains
predictive power.
• Unified
– Scientific ideas are consistent across
different disciplines.
Consensus NOS Views
• Culturally-embedded
– Scientists & scientific ideas are influenced by
the society from they arise.
• Theory/Law Distinction
– Scientific theories are robust, empirically
supported explanations of natural phenomena.
Scientific laws are perceived regularities
regarding the natural world. Therefore,
theories never become laws. Laws are typically
more narrow in focus than theories.