High School Students' Views on the Relationship Between Science/Technology and Society, and on the Nature of Science

Abstract

Among the three dimensions of scientific literacy, 'the relationship between science/technology and society' and the nature of science' have been less emphasized than the acquisition of scientific concepts'. The purpose of this study was to investigate high school students' views on these less emphasized dimensions. Ninety eight 11th-grade students were selected from the science track of two academic high schools, 98 from the nonscience track of the same two schools, and 90 from a science high school. In order to compare students' views, 16 items (8 items for each dimension) were selected from the VOSTS (Views on Science-Technology-Society), and administered in the middle of the second semester. The results indicated that there were no significant differences in students' views on the relationship between science/technology and society. However, in the item concerning 'the influence of science/technology on everyday life', science high school students had more positive views. Concerning the nature of science, science high school students' views were generally more epistemologic and realistic, whereas academic high school students' views were more naive and influenced by logical positivism. This trend was notable particularly in the item concerning 'the values in construction of scientific knowledge' and 'the nature of models'. Sciencism-naive realism, credulous experimentalism, blind idealism, and excessive rationalism-were representatives of these naive views. Educational implications are discussed.이 논문은 1996년 서울대학교 사범대학 발전기금의 지원에 의한 것임