Exploring Pre-service Science Teachers’ Perspectives on the Nature of Science - A Comparative Study Between China and Canada

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by hdkawk

The study examines preservice science teachers’ views of the Nature of Science (NOS) through a cross-cultural comparison between China and Canada. Using a survey design, it investigates how Chinese and Canadian preservice teachers understand seven aspects of NOS. Results indicate both groups hold a modern view of science education, with Chinese participants showing stronger macro-understanding but weaker micro-mastery, while Canadian participants generally demonstrate higher NOS understanding. The work calls for rebuilding China’s preservice science teacher education curriculum.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

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Pages17

Reading Time43 min

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Introduction

Exploring Pre-service Science Teachers’ Perspectives on the Nature of Science: A Comparative Study Between China and Canada Guihua Zhang (张桂花) Foreign Language School of Sichuan Normal University Affiliated High School Yuanrong Li (李远蓉) Southwest University George Zhou (周国强) University of Windsor Sonia Wai-Ying Ho University of Windsor Highlights ECNU Review of Education 2022, Vol. 5(3) 520–536 ª The Author(s) 2021 Article reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[DOI: 10.1177/2096531120966782](DOI: 10.1177/2096531120966782)[ ](DOI: 10.1177/2096531120966782)[journals.sagepub.com/home/roe](journals.sagepub.com/home/roe) 􀀁 The Nature of Science (NOS) is an important component of scientific literacy. Science teachers’ Views of the Nature of Science (VNOS) directly affect their teaching behaviors. Therefore, it is of great significance to explore science teachers’ VNOS and find ways of improvement. 􀀁 This study was designed to comparatively investigate preservice science teachers’VNOS between China and Canada. The study employed a survey design to explore how Chinese and Canadian preservice science teachers understood the seven different aspects of NOS. Corresponding author: Yuanrong Li, College of Teacher Education, Southwest University, 2 Tiansheng Road, Beibei District, Chongqing 400715, China. Email: [hxliyr@swu.edu.cn](hxliyr@swu.edu.cn) Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License ([https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages ([https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage](https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage)). 􀀁 Data showed that preservice science teachers in China and Canada both hold a modern view about science education. The level of Chinese and Canadian participants’ understanding of NOS was above the relatively naive level. Chinese teachers had better macro-understanding toward science education, but their micro-mastery was insufficient. The Canadian participants had a better understanding of the NOS than their Chinese counterparts. 􀀁 The study suggested that there is a need to reconstruct the preservice science teacher education curriculum in China and promote the transformation in the science teacher educational system. Keywords Culture, Nature of Science, preservice science teachers, teacher education Date received: 19 July 2020; revised: 30 August 2020; accepted: 22 September 2020 Introduction Understanding of the Nature of Science (NOS) is a core component of scientific literacy. Liang (2005) indicated that the eternal goal of international science education is to cultivate students’scientific literacy. Canada is recognized worldwide for its outstanding quality of education. In 2015, the Programme for Internatioal Student Assessment (PISA) reported that Canada’s science education level is at the top of the world (OECD, 2015) . This has something to do with Canada’sways of governing. Canada is a typical country of decentralization, and it has impacts on its own educational system. Each province formulates education policy independently and promulgates curriculum standards. Ontario, as Canada’s political and economic center, has become a model of curriculum reform among all Canadian provinces because of its first-class level of education (Yao & Guo, 2013) . In Ontario, the reform documents cover almost all grades from elementary to highschool. The Grades 1–8 science and technology curriculum was revised in 2007, and the Grades 11 and 12 science curriculum was revised in 2008 . Such revisions are for improving scientific li

FAQs

What does the Nature of Science (NOS) mean in this study?

NOS is treated as an important component of scientific literacy. The paper emphasizes that teachers’ views of NOS influence their teaching behaviors and science literacy education.

How did the study compare China and Canada?

It used a survey design to comparatively investigate preservice science teachers’ views of NOS between China and Canada, focusing on seven aspects of NOS.

What were the main findings about teachers’ understanding?

Both Chinese and Canadian preservice teachers showed above-naive understanding of NOS and a modern view of science education. Chinese participants had better macro-understanding but insufficient micro-mastery, while Canadian participants generally understood NOS better.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by hdkawk