Abstract
Learning about the nature of science is an important aspect of becoming part of the culture of practicing physicists. While these topics have a long-standing tradition in U.S. curricula they are currently not part of German educational standards or curricula. And while there is some research concerning primary and secondary school students’ beliefs in this area, there are hardly any data about German university students. In this study we query 100 physics students in their first to fifth semester at a German university for their views of nature of science. We then compare them to a sample of physics professors at German universities from an earlier study. The students exhibit quite adequate views in some areas but could improve on their knowledge of the variability of scientific methods and the tentativeness and limited certainty of scientific knowledge—two issues they have in common with the professors. If we interpret the sample longitudinally, we see positive development in the first but worsening in the latter area.
- Received 11 August 2020
- Accepted 25 February 2021
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.010118
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.
Published by the American Physical Society