Determining pre-service science teachers' perceptions of science, nature of science and the relationship between them

Nature of science is an interdisciplinary field that includes several disciplines. The aspects of nature of science and the concept of science which are both important for science education, share similar properties and support each other. Understanding nature of science and science concept effect individuals' facilitating daily lives and making conscious decisions as citizens, as well as it is a necessity in science education. Therefore it is of utmost importance to educate students as individuals that are understanding nature of science. The purpose of this study is to determine pre-service science teachers' perception of science, views of nature of science and the relationship between them. The study is performed in the 2019-2020 academic year in Dokuz Eylül University among pre-service teachers of different undergraduate levels. Perception of Science Evaluation Scale and Views of Nature of Science Questionaire were used for data collection. The views of nature of science were coded as unacceptable, partly acceptable and acceptable and analyzed statistically. According to the results, the pre-service science teachers' views of nature of science were unacceptable and partly acceptable. However, nature of science views show a positive increase during the undergraduate education. Metaphor data for science concept were analysed via content analysis and they were categorized as dynamic, guiding, vumulative, requirement and eternal. According to the results, perceptions of pre-service teachers' were found to be positive but with some deficiencies and conceptual misunderstandings. There were some differences between class level and choice of metafors about science, although, not statistically significant. Lastly, no significant correlation was found between the views of nature of science and perceptions of science. Keywords: Science education, Science, Nature of science.