Scientific Knowledge is Theory-Laden; An Activity of A Cow That Climbed the Mountain has Become 1500!

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore understanding of pre-service science teachers’ views about theory-laden of scientific knowledge during the explicit-reflective instruction. In this context, the activity of "a cow that climbed to the mountain has become 1500" focused on subjectivity of scientific knowledge. Having said that, it emphasizes that scientific knowledge is based on observation and inference and it is effected by social and cultural values. The first phase of the activity is carried out with the half of the class and the second phase was conducted with whole class which is consisted of 50 pre-service teachers who were dived into groups of 5 scientists. As a result, in the activity, it is specified that scientist's choices were affected significantly by their level of education, their beliefs and their prior knowledge.