Stories by NOS-feature

The stories can be accessed by Nature of Science features: In some instances, several stories go under the same feature, in others, there is just one story (at the moment) related to the feature. Most stories are related to several features. Other means to access the stories are the topics that are adressed by the stories, or the subject area to which the story is related.

William McComas presented (besides several other excellent publications with respect to this topic) a very coherent summary on aspects of the nature of science. His paper "Keys to Teaching the Nature of Science", which appeared in the NSTA WebNews Digest, can be summarized as follows: 

A consensus of key Nature of Science (NOS) ideas appropriate for inclusion in the school science curriculum has begun to emerge from a review by science educators of the extensive literature in the history and philosophy of science. These consensus ideas suggest surprisingly parallel sets of NOS content goals for science teaching throughout the school years that do not oversimplify the science itself or overburden the existing science curriculum. This article presents nine key ideas, which represent both a concise set of ideas about science and a list of objectives to shape instruction in any science discipline. These key ideas can be categorized as

1. Science requires and relies on empirical evidence.

2. There is no single step-by-step method by which all science is done.

3. While science cannot "prove" its knowledge, its conclusions are still accepted and durable.

4. While laws and theories in science are related, they are still distinct from each other.

5. Scientific endeavors are highly creative.

6. Science has a subjective aspect to it.

7. Science is influenced by historical, cultural, and social factors.

8. While science and technology influence each other, they are not the same.

9. Science and its methods cannot answer all questions.