Science Education
By Lederman, Norman G; O’Malley, Molly
“Students’ Perceptions of Tentativeness in Science: Development, Use, and Sources of Change”
Publisher:
Issue2/Volume74
Pp. 225-239
1990
Students’ Perceptions of Tentativeness in Science: Development, Use, and Sources of Change
Type: Empirical
Data collection method: Interview, Survey
Number of subjects, range: Large — 31 or more
Grade and age of subjects: 9th-12 grade — under 17-18 years
- Theories change, it was taken as evidence for an absolutist viewpoint.
- A scientific theory hasn’t been proven yet.
- Laws have been proven to be true.
- Theories are just guesses about how things work. Laws have been shown to be
correct because of experiments. - Theories change more than laws. Laws have more experiments supporting them,
so they don’t change as much. - Laws tell us about things that we can see, like gravity. Theories are more opinions.