The Effect of Explicit versus Implicit Instructional Approaches during a Technology-Based Curriculum on College Students’ Understanding of the Nature of Science (NOS)

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect
of explicit versus implicit instructional approaches on
students’ understanding of the nature of science (NOS). The
study emphasized the inferential and tentative NOS. The
control group consisted of 97 students, 64 female and 33 male,
and the experimental group consisted of 143 students, 92
female and 51 male. A quantitative analysis of students' preintervention
NOS views revealed that there was no statistically
significant difference between implicit and explicit groups in
both targeted NOS aspects, However, the same analysis
indicated a statistically significant difference for postintervention
between implicit and explicit groups, A
qualitative analysis of students’ pre-intervention views of the
target NOS revealed that the number of informed NOS
responses was not considerably different. However, analysis
of post-intervention NOS views indicated that more students in
the explicit group demonstrated informed views of the target
NOS than in the implicit group. The findings of the study
demonstrated firstly, the effectiveness of the explicit approach
when teaching aspects of the NOS and secondly, that this
teaching could be accomplished through short intensive
discussion.