Abstract

Through a writing-intensive first year science seminar course, students at the University of British Columbia explore the nature of science and the role science plays in society. We investigated the change in first year science students’ views on the nature of science (NOS) using a validated survey - Student Understanding of Science and Scientific Inquiry (SUSSI). Administered as a pre/post-test, we found that students demonstrated significant improvements in their overall views of the nature of science. We have found that a first year seminar course with carefully designed and targeted in-class activities that align with the concepts addressed in all six SUSSI categories is an effective way to engage students in their learning and to deepen their views about NOS.