SCIENCE TEACHERS PHILOSOPHICAL ASSUMPTIONS - HOW WELL DO WE UNDERSTAND THEM

The need for a re-examination of science teachers' philosophical assumptions, as argued in this paper, is based on an overview of the body of the relevant literature. This overview suggests a lack of explicit specification of the philosophical position which has been taken into account in the development of most of the instruments employed in eliciting science teachers' views about philosophy of science. It is further argued that this tendency appears to stem from the fact that most of the studies fail to recognize the existence of conflicting philosophical models of science. An analysis of the issues involved is proposed.