Abstract:

This paper describes an experience about the social construction of knowledge through reflection and debate on electronic forums. It has been carried out in a higher education course for pre-service teachers, at the University of Jaen, in Southern Spain. The main purpose was to help students to develop an adequate view about the nature of science.
Nature of science has been widely recognized as a key topic for scientific literacy, necessary to understand the purpose and characteristics of scientific knowledge, and how it is developed and validated. This is essential to appreciate the value of scientific theories and the impact of scientific advances on society. Furthermore, learning about scientific processes and the evolution of scientific knowledge through history helps us to build an adequate image of science, and facilitate the understanding of scientific ideas. It also allows people to make informed decisions on socio-scientific issues.
Science teachers are the main responsible for ensuring the achievement of these learning goals, hence justifying the importance of addressing this issue in teachers’ initial training. The main goal of this paper is therefore, to describe the implementation and evaluation of an instructional strategy, aimed at promoting an adequate view of the nature of science in pre-service teachers.
According to a socio-constructivist perspective, individuals construct meaning through their interaction with others. The mental activities usually associated with debate and discussion, such as reflection, the clear and well-supported communication of ideas, and the exchange and evaluation of different perspectives are intellectual processes closely related with deep learning.
Taking into consideration all the above mentioned arguments, the instructional strategy described in the present work is based on the use of debate on electronic forums, to promote the social construction of knowledge about the nature of science.
In this line, the forum contributions made by the pre-service teachers enrolled in the survey have been analyzed by different raters, using a scoring rubric. The efficiency of the instructional strategy carried out has been evaluated on the basis of the available evidence. Special attention has been paid to signs about sharing understanding, enhanced learning or the overcoming of usual misconceptions about the nature of science

Keywords:

Nature of Science (NOS), e-forum, computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL), social construction of knowledge.