Socioscientific Reasoning Competencies and Nature of Science Conceptions of Undergraduate Students from Different Faculties

Abstract

Understanding undergraduate students’ socioscientific reasoning (SSR) competencies and nature of science (NOS) conceptions are important for them to be informed citizens. Therefore, in this study, SSR competencies and NOS conceptions of 169 undergraduate students from five different faculties were investigated through survey research methodology. The descriptive analysis of the participants’ scores indicated that their SSR competencies and NOS conceptions were at a moderate level. The participants struggled most with the dimensions of skepticism and inquiry in SSR and with the dimension of methods and methodological rules in NOS. However, they obtained better scores in perspective-taking in SSR and socio-institutional systems in NOS. When the differences among the faculties were investigated, science students were found to have significantly lower scores on both SSR and NOS. Conversely, health science and engineering students got better scores on both. Finally, there was no significant relationship between SSR and NOS scores of participants. The differences in participants’ scores were discussed based on the differences in the curriculums of faculties and implications that were provided for educators. To develop SSR competencies and NOS conceptions of undergraduate students, different departments can collaborate by offering courses from different perspectives to other departments.