Abstract:

The aim of this study is to prepare teaching materials supported by history of science and to examine the effect of this teaching material on students' understanding of the nature of science. The study was carried out with 20 students in the 7th grade light unit during 11 hours of 3 weeks. This work is an interpretive work because it focuses on the meanings that students place on the elements of the nature of science. The teaching material is based on the use of history of science in teaching. In order to be integrated into the teaching material, the history of science stories and materials in the textbook are arranged in the nature of science. The data of the study were collected by questionnaires of first-last on the nature science and semi-structured interviews. Each student’s before and after profiles of the nature of science were drawn and compared. In this way the influence of the activities on the students' understanding of the nature of science has been decided. This study has revealed that "weak" insights that students have about the elements of the nature of science have developed towards "adequate" level at the end of the study. Among the emphasized elements of the nature of science, it has been determined that the elements of "uncertain science" and "imaginative and creative" are more developed.

Keywords: