Student Understanding of Scientific Hypotheses, Theories & Laws: Exploring the influence of a non-majors college introductory Biology course

Although an important part of scientific literacy, most students hold misconceptions regarding the nature of science (NOS). We investigated the influence of a non-majors’ introductory biology course on college students’ understanding of NOS in the context of instructor’s NOS conceptions and instructional practices. Five instructors and 287
students were administered Views on Science-Technology-Society (VOSTS) questionnaire. Students took VOSTS as pre-post test. All instructors and selected students were interviewed to corroborate VOSTS responses. Selected class sessions of all
instructors were video recorded and transcribed to document instructional styles and communication of NOS. Results indicate that in some areas of NOS the course impacted the students negatively, in others there was no impact, while in still others the impact varied by instructor. Whether negative or positive, several instances indicate that the course did impact student understanding. Here, we focus on change in student understanding with regard to the relationships and distinctions between scientific
hypotheses, theories and laws.