“BOX” ACTIVITIES ABOUT TEACHING THE NATURE OF SCIENCE FOR 7th GRADE MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS

Abstract

Teaching with the nature of science activities is essential in a science course considering the characteristics of the nature of science. The aim of this research was to design alternative activities that can guide teachers to teach the nature of science in a better way, and 7th grade middle school students to develop their views on the nature of science. In this research, four different activities of “The mystery candle in the box”, “Following the trail”, “The mystery in the box”, and “Colorful lights” were developed at the middle school level. The developed activities were evaluated by 2 field experts, and necessary arrangements were made according to their statements. Criteria for choosing activities are that whether they are appropriate for the middle school level and for teachers use comfortably, for a use in the duration of the course and for the science curriculum. With the developed activities, middle school students were asked to focus on the difference between observation and inference, the role of scientists' imagination and creativity in the creation of scientific knowledge, and tentativeness of scientific knowledge. Keywords: box activity examples, nature of science, 5E model.