What exactly does science do? How does it work? And what is its relationship with engineering and mathematics? The literature speaks of Nature of science (NoS) when talking about these aspects of science. Research shows that science education in which NoS is explicitly addressed has a positive influence on pupils' attitudes towards science. Nevertheless, within Flemish education, not much attention is paid to NoS, unlike in other European countries and the United States. Nevertheless, the Flemish government wants to increase young people's motivation and interest in science (STEM action plan) in order to achieve an increased outflow of science and technology graduates.
The main goal of this project, the research-based development of guidelines and accompanying didactic suggestions to initiate and facilitate the integration of NoS in Flemish education (primary and secondary education), thus responds to a recognised social need. The implementation of the project is based on the approach within 'educational design research'. This form of research allows guidelines to be developed in a research-based manner with key stakeholders.
Given the duration of the project, guidelines and didactic suggestions were only evaluated for 'expected' applicability and effectiveness.
On 25 August 2014, the results of this PWO project were presented at Campus Sint-Amandsberg of the Arteveldehogeschool.
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