Examination of fourth grade students' opinions on the nature of science by scenarios

The main purpose of science education is to raise scientifically literate individuals. It is believed that science literacy can be achieved by integrating nature of science education into science lessons starting from primary school. This research aims to examine the views of fourth grade primary school students on the nature of science and its components through scenarios. In the research, which used the basic qualitative research design, maximum diversity sampling was used to determine the participants and the schools where the participants studied. In this context, a two-stage process was followed in the use of the sampling strategy. In the first stage, the different levels of science achievements of the schools participating in the scholarship exam held by a private school in the city where the research was conducted were taken as an area of ​​diversity. In the second stage, 15 students with different science achievement levels who were studying in schools with the highest, lowest and middle level science achievement averages were included in the research. The research was conducted in a city in the Inner Aegean Region in the 2022-2023 academic year. Research data was obtained through scenarios about nature of science components and semi-structured interview questions consisting of six questions related to each scenario. Interviews were conducted one-on-one and face to face with each participant. The data obtained in the research were analyzed with the deductive content analysis method. In light of the findings obtained from the data analysis, it was concluded that the participating students mostly had a naive understanding of the components of the nature of science. Key Words: Science education, science literacy, nature of science views, fourth grade primary school students, nature of science scenarios