Analyzing the knowledge structures of secondary school students about the nature of science via the concept map

In this study, the knowledge level and structures of secondary school students were examined. The data were collected from 263 high school and Anatolian high school students in 2008?2009 academic years. The low-directed `construct-a-map-from-scratch? technique was used. After determining 22 concepts about the Nature of Science, they were asked to construct their own individual concept maps about the Nature of Science. In addition, the survey Views on Science-Technology-Society, VOSTS, which developed by Aikenhead, Ryan, and Fleming (1989), was used in order to evaluate the opinions of secondary school students on the subject of the Nature of Science. Analysis of the data which is acquired from both concept maps and VOSTS survey revealed that students are familiar with the concepts of the Nature of Science; but they have difficulty in creating meaningful relationships these concepts and their knowledge level on the Nature of Science has not materialized in cognitive level yet. Additionally, it was observed that secondary school students have misconceptions like ?Hypotheses become theories?, ?Theories are absolute?, ?Theories become laws?, and ?A scientist is objective?. These results show that the information of secondary school students on the Nature of Science is not in harmony with scientific knowledge.Key Words: Nature of Science, Concept Map, Concept Mistakes