Supporting a beginning teacher to apply features of the nature of science

The main distinguishing features of science are the nature of its knowledge and the methods it uses to generate knowledge (its epistemology). Several schemes have been suggested to help classify knowledge within any subject. Of particular relevance here is Schwab’s scheme (Furlong and Maynard, 1995), which distinguishes syntactic and substantive knowledge. These find some correspondence with views of science as both process (the nature of science) and product (subject knowledge of science) respectively (Millar, 2004). Along these lines, science consists of a body of knowledge that represents current understanding of natural systems and the processes whereby that body of knowledge has been established and is being continually extended, refined, and revised (Duschl, Schweingruber and Shouse, 2007). Science education not only aims to convey subject knowledge of science but also attempts to induct pupils into the ways of doing science, including skills, dispositions, knowledge generation and refinement processes, encompassed under the term ‘nature of science’ (NoS). This chapter focuses on how a mentor can support a beginning teacher to grapple with elements of the NoS, especially in planning practical activities found in the secondary school curriculum. It also suggests mentoring strategies to support a beginning teacher to incorporate health and safety procedures in practical-based science lessons.