Creative Education 2013. Vol.4, No.1, 82-88 Published Online January 2013 in SciRes (http://www.scirp.org/journal/ce) http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ce.2013.41011 Copyright © 2013 SciRes. 82 Prospective Teachers’ Perceptions of Science Theories: An Action Research Study James P. Concannon 1 , Patrick L. Brown 2 , Erikka Brown 3 1 Westminster College, Fulton, USA 2 DuBray Middle School, St. Peters, USA 3 Westminster College, Fulton, USA Email: jim.concannon@westminster-mo.edu Received November 7 th , 2012; revised December 10 th , 2012; accepted December 24 th , 2012 This study investigates prospective teachers’ conceptions of science theories before and after instruction. Instruction focused specifically on prospective teachers’ misconceptions that theories are not used to pre- dict, that laws are more important than theories, and that theories are simply hunches. The action research investigation was successful in helping students accommodate new information presented in the lesson and facilitated their understanding towards the accepted explanation of what a theory in science means; however, the vernacular misconception that “theories are hunches” persisted. Keywords: Nature of Science; Theory; Prospective Teachers; Science Misconceptions Introduction The objective for K-12 science education as outlined in the Benchmarks for Science Literacy (American Association for the Advancement of Science [AAAS], 1993) and the National Sci- ence Education Standards (National Research Council [NRC], 1996) is that students gain a broad understanding of science content and develop abilities to use evidence-based reasoning in their everyday lives. Although achieving higher levels of scien- tific literacy is the ultimate goal, research consistently demon- strates that students’ inaccurate ideas and misconceptions hin- der their abilities to develop more scientifically accurate con- ceptions (Driver, Leach, Millar, & Scott, 1996; Driver, Squires, Rushworth, & Wood-Robinson, 1994). One key component in helping students overcome misconceptions and achieve higher levels of science literacy is how they are taught (Brophy & Good, 1986). As a result, preparing prospective science teach- ers to teach in ways that help students overcome misconcep- tions is a major goal of many teacher education programs (Lemberger, Hewson, & Park, 1999; Russell & Martin, 2007). The knowledge prospective teachers have about the content and their students influences what they will learn from teacher preparation programs, the way they will teach, and what stu- dents will learn. This idea grounds the purpose for this study. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of explicit instruction on prospective science teacher’s develop- ment of knowledge of scientific theories. Theoretical Framework In order to understand prospective science teacher’s development of knowledge of scientific theories, researches must identify important components of knowledge development. Posner, Strike, Hewson, & Gertzog (1982) proposed a model of conceptual change that included 4 sequential phases. In the first phase, the teacher identifies student’s ideas, knowledge, and misconceptions. The literature documented that students have multiple types of misconceptions ranging from preconceived notions, conceptual misunderstandings, to vernacular miscon- ceptions (Center for Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Education [CSMEE], 1997). Misconceptions inhibit students’ learning and progression from being nominally scientifically literate to being functionally, conceptually, or multidimensional literate (Bybee et al., 2008). Thus, it is important that student thinking is made concrete for both the student and teacher at the onset of science instruction. During the second phase, the teacher provides experiences and data to introduce new, accurate ideas. Students benefit from firsthand experiences with evidence in order to find new ideas plausible. The third phase students must find new conceptions more attractive than their misconception. Students should generate scientific claims based on evidence and teachers should discuss ideas in light of students’ firsthand experiences. Finally, students must use evidence-based reasoning and logic to develop deep con- ceptually accurate understanding. Constructing new ideas through interactions with data and evidence, collaborations with other students, and discussions with the teacher should help them refute the accuracy of their misconception. Students benefit from elaborations that allow them to test new con- ceptions in new and different contexts. Testing ideas in new contexts help solidify students’ knowledge by resolving con- flicts between prior conceptions and new understanding. The proven effectiveness of a conceptual change approach on the development of scientific knowledge is well substantiated. A number of studies have contributed to the development, imple- mentation, and demonstrate the robustness of using a con- ceptual change approach to help students overcome miscon- ceptions to develop more accurate understanding (Eaton, Anderson, & Smith, 1983; Clement, Brown, & Zietsman, 1989; Nussbaum & Novick, 1981; Posner et al., 1982; Osborne & Gilbert, 1980). Review of the Literature: Teachers Views of the Nature of Science One of the central goals identified by the National Science