Applications of RFN (Reconceptualized Family resemblance approach to Nature of science) to high school physics teaching

This thesis project fits into the research’s area of science education called Nature of Science (NOS). The aims of the thesis are: to understand what “image of physics” emerges in high school teaching; to provide suggestions to recognise implicit or explicit limits and potentialities of the official curriculum to guide, in class, students to get acquainted with the authenticity of science and its societal relevance. The thesis contains two studies. Both of them have been carried out by using a well-known framework in science education: Reconceptualized Family research approach to Nature of science (RFN) by Erduran and Dagher (2014). The framework has been used in the first analysis to investigate the presence of NOS elements in physics guidelines adopted by the “Liceo Scientifico” high school in Italy. The study highlighted a significant presence of epistemic and cognitive aspects of science in the guidelines, in contrast to a scarce presence of social and institutional aspects of science. Through an Epistemic Network Analysis (ENA) on the connections between the NOS categories in the curriculum, a structural difference emerged between the general part of the guidelines, where the goals and values are mainly stressed, and the specific part, where the contents are described. In the latter, the main node of connections is “knowledge”, making the other NOS categories little valued. The second analysis uses RFN to investigate how a sample of five physics teachers implement, in their teaching, NOS elements related to epistemic and cognitive practices. The results highlight not only the room that teachers can find to teach NOS, independently of the official guidelines, but also the great relevance that these elements can have to boost understanding in the discipline, to authentically engage students with physics, and to develop cultural and emotional skills crucial for becoming a responsible and aware citizens.