Perceptions of Science Teachers and Ninth Graders on the Nature and the Philosophy of Sciences as Diversifi ed by Gender and by School Sizes

Abstract

The aim of this research is comparing between natural science perception and science philosophy of science teacher at Gr.9. The sample were used 26 teachers and the students Gr.9. Questionnaires were used for data collection and the information was interpreted via percentiles, means, and standard deviations. Additionally, the F-test (One-way and Two-way MANOVA) were used to verify the hypothesis. On average, most of the teachers were reported to have had a high level of perception on Science’s nature and philosophy, except those informants from big schools whose scores of perception averaged at the highest level. Across all groups of teachers, the degrees of misconception about Science’s nature and philosophy were gauged to be at a moderate level. Founded on a gender-based investigation, the numbers showed a high level of misconception among female teachers. The teachers from big schools were reported to have had a higher perception of the nature and the philosophy of Science as compared to those from smaller-sized schools. Teachers of diff erent genders were not observed to have had diff erent levels of perception on Science’s nature and philosophy. Likewise, among the participants, no correlation was found between gender and the sizes of the schools with regard to scientifi c perceptions. Both male and female teachers were observed to have had lower levels of scientifi c misconceptions than their student counterparts. Both the average results and the gender-based results were found to similarly show high levels of misconception among students. The teacher groups were reported to have had fewer scientifi c misconceptions than the students of both genders. The female teachers were not observed to have had diff erent levels of scientifi c perceptions as compared to the male and the female students.