Development of an instrument to measure understanding of the nature of science as a process of inquiry in comparison to pseudoscience.

摘要

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a instrument that measures understanding of science as a process of inquiry in comparison to pseudoscience. The instrument's content covers the nature of science as opposed to discipline specific content knowledge. The instrument includes three sub-categories of the nature of science: science as a process of inquiry, belief in the paranormal, and applying the parameters of science to a non-scientific realm. Student comments and interviews were used to revise the pilot instrument. Factor analysis identified which items on the instrument grouped together. Cronbach alpha determined reliability within each sub-category of the final instrument. The instrument can be used to evaluate student competency in learning science as a process of inquiry in secondary science settings.