Biology Teacher’s understanding of Nature of Science (NOS)

Abstract

This study aims to determine the understanding of high school biology teachers about the nature of science. Teacher understanding was measured using the View of Nature of Science (VNOS) form C instrument developed and refined from VNOS form B to measure the understanding of the nature of science of secondary biology teachers. Understanding the nature of science needs to be owned by science students and teachers to avoid any misconceptions about science. Research on understanding the nature of science teachers of science is still not widely carried out in Indonesia. This qualitative study using VNOS Form involved  9 Biology teachers who taught in high schools from different schools. The VNOS Form C which has been translated into the Indonesia version was administered to respondents by using google form. Ten questions represent the 14 aspects of VNOS Form C. Based on the results of the data analysis, it is concluded that VNOS form C can be used to measure the understanding of the nature of science for biology teachers. However, the study showed that most biology teachers are still in the status of naïve understanding about the nature of science rather than eclectic and informed understanding. This study implies the need for improvement of teacher understanding of the nature of science.