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Production of a Science Documentary and its Usefulnessin Teaching the Nature of Science: Indirect Experienceof How Science Works
Sun Young Kim • Sang Wook Yi • Eun Hee Cho
Published online: 3 July 2013� Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013
Abstract In this study, we produced a documentary which portrays scientists at work and
critically evaluated the use of this film as a teaching tool to help students develop an
understanding of the nature of science. The documentary, ‘‘Life as a Scientist: People in
Love with Caenorhabditis elegans, a Soil Nematode’’ encompasses the entire process of a
scientific investigation by exploring the everyday life of a particular group of scientists.
We explored the effectiveness of this documentary in teaching the nature of science by
examining the epistemological views of college students toward science before and after
viewing. In addition, we collected written responses from the students where they
described which aspect of the nature of science they learned from the documentary. The
scores of epistemological views toward science increased between the pretest and the
posttest (p \ 0.01) with the most significant increase being in their views of the role of
social negotiation. In the written responses, approximately half of the students suggested
that they had learned more about the role which cooperation and collaboration play in the
development of scientific knowledge by watching the documentary. The documentary
overall provides a valuable instructional context so that students are able to discuss and
reflect on various aspects of nature of science within authentic scientific research.
1 Introduction
Because we live in a world significantly influenced by science and technology, it is
beneficial for the public to have an understanding of science and scientific methodology in
S. Y. Kim � E. H. Cho (&)Department of Biology Education, Chosun University, Kwangju 501-759, Koreae-mail: [email protected]
S. Y. Kime-mail: [email protected]
S. W. YiDepartment of Philosophy, Hanyang University, Seoul 133-791, Koreae-mail: [email protected]
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Sci & Educ (2014) 23:1197–1216DOI 10.1007/s11191-013-9614-5
order to make informed decisions concerning science-related issues. The American
Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS 1990) is quoted as saying:
Education has no higher purpose than preparing people to lead personally fulfilling and responsiblelives. For its part, science education—meaning education in science, mathematics, and technology—should help students to develop the understandings and habits of mind they need to become com-passionate human beings able to think for themselves and to face life head on. It should equip themalso to participate thoughtfully with fellow citizens in building and protecting a society that is open,decent, and vital (p. v).
For the purpose of equipping citizens to live in an era highly influenced by science and
technology, current science education reform efforts have emphasized the development of
sophisticated views on the nature of science as a key element of scientific literacy (AAAS
1990; Bell et al. 2003). This can as well be applied to the science education at universities.
Especially at the tertiary level, science education for the future citizens should differ from
that for the future scientists. The science courses offered for the next generation of citizens
should focus more on enhancing ‘scientific literacy’ rather than on providing the ‘facts’ of
science (Osborne 2007). In this study we targeted students in the science courses in
General Education Curriculum at a university.
Scientific literacy is synonymous with a public understanding of science and reflects the
changing and growing level of scientific understanding among the adult population
(DeBoer 2000). The concept of scientific literacy is subject to interpretation, but is defined
by Laugksch (2000) as learned, competent, and being able to function minimally as
consumers and citizens. To be learned is to be aware of the existing body of knowledge and
the ways of thinking in the natural sciences. To be competent reflects a knowledge of
science, including the ability to read science-related newspaper articles, to solve practical
problems related to food, health, and shelter, and to think critically and independently in
order to deal with evidence and logical arguments. And finally, to function minimally in
society means that scientifically literate individuals make informed decisions for them-
selves and others. DeBoer (2000) expands these roles into nine themes of scientific liter-
acy: teaching and learning about science as a cultural force in the modern world;
preparation for the world of work; teaching and learning about science that has direct
application to everyday living; teaching students to be informed citizens; learning about
science as a particular way of examining the natural world; understanding reports and
discussions of science that appear in the popular media; learning about science for its
aesthetic appeal; preparing citizens who are sympathetic to science; and understanding the
nature and importance of technology and the relationship between technology and science.
Miller (1983) likewise contends that components of scientific literacy include an under-
standing of: the norms and methods of science (the nature of science); key scientific terms
and concepts (scientific content knowledge); and the impact of science and technology on
society. Science taught in school focuses mainly on the second component, scientific
content knowledge, covering particular content through the use of textbooks (DeBoer
2000).
An examination of the previous studies of scientific literacy revealed that understanding
of the nature of science is one of major elements in achieving a high level of scientific
literacy. With this understanding, citizens in contemporary societies are able to appreciate
the nature of scientific knowledge, interpret the meaning of new scientific claims, and
further participate in decisions of policy, recognizing both the power that scientific
knowledge can potentially bring to decision making and the limits of scientific knowledge
(Sandoval 2005).
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The importance of nature of science (NOS) education can be seen from a more context-
specific perspective as well. In many economically fast-growing countries such as South
Korea, science is closely related to technology in ordinary citizens’ minds. Naturally,
science is often conceptualized as the unavoidable consequences of steadfast method-
following activities, which then provides grounds for making convenient artifacts by
engineers. In this context, it is hard for students and citizens to appreciate the importance
of asking ‘right’ scientific questions, the contingencies in scientists’ decisions in research,
the historical and cultural dimension of scientific knowledge, the significance of collab-
orative creativity. A proper understanding of NOS in this context will help general public
obtain more ‘realistic’ and therefore more enriched views of scientific knowledge and
scientific research in their society, and become better prepared for participating in social
decision-making process as regards science.
2 Epistemological Themes of Science
The nature of science refers to ‘‘the epistemology of science, science as a way of knowing,
or the values and beliefs of scientific knowledge and its development’’ (Lederman 1992,
p. 331). Epistemology of science describes ‘‘the nature of scientific knowledge, including
the sources of such knowledge, its truth value, scientifically appropriate warrants, and so
forth’’ (Sandoval 2005). Lederman et al. (2002) suggests seven aspects of the nature of
science: empirical nature of scientific knowledge, inference and theoretical entities in
science, nature of scientific theory, scientific theories and laws, creativity in science,
subjectivity in science, social and cultural influences. Sandoval (2005) similarly suggests
four broad epistemological themes: scientific knowledge is constructed; scientific methods
are diverse; there are different forms of scientific knowledge; and scientific knowledge is
tentative.
Despite a broad consensus about the importance of teaching the nature of science in the
classroom (McComas et al. 1998), questions remain about which elements should be
included. Osborne et al. (2003) asked, ‘‘What should be taught to school students about the
nature of science?’’ in a Delphi study of 23 acknowledged experts (e.g., science educators;
scientists, historians, philosophers, and sociologists of science; experts engaged in the
public understanding of science; and expert science teachers). The empirically determined
points of agreement from the expert community are summarized in the following nine
themes:
• Scientific method and critical testing: Science uses the experimental method to test
ideas. The outcome of a single experiment is rarely sufficient to establish a knowledge
claim.
• Creativity: Science is an activity that involves as much creativity and imagination as
other human activities; scientists are passionate and involved humans whose work
relies on inspiration and imagination.
• Historical development of scientific knowledge: Teaching the history of science has the
potential of facilitating an appreciation of developments in science, as well as the ways
and extent to which such developments have been affected by the demands and
expectations of society at different points in history.
• Science and questioning: An important aspect of the work of a scientist is the continual
and cyclical process of asking questions and seeking answers, which then acknowl-
edges that scientific work is a communal and competitive activity.
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• Diversity of scientific thinking: Science uses a range of methods and approaches and
there is no one scientific method or approach.
• Analysis and interpretation of data: Students should be taught that the practice of
science involves skillful analysis and interpretation of data. It is possible for scientists
to legitimately come to different interpretations of the same data, therefore to disagree.
• Science and certainty: Current scientific knowledge is the best we have but may be
subject to change in the future, given new evidence or new interpretations of old
evidence.
• Hypothesis and prediction: Scientists develop hypotheses and predictions about natural
phenomena.
• Cooperation and collaboration in the development of scientific knowledge: Scientists
work together as a community.
These elements resonate the common core themes seen in a number of recent science
curriculum reform documents in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand
(McComas and Olson 1998). Therefore, there is now substantial agreement about the
elements of NOS that should to be taught in science classes.
3 Teaching Approaches for NOS
Although NOS is emphasized as a crucial element of scientific literacy, numerous studies
have shown that both students and teachers possess naı̈ve views about the NOS (Lederman
and O’Malley 1990; Zeidler and Lederman 1989) and efforts have been made to improve
adequate understandings of these topics (e.g., Abd-El-Khalick et al. 1998; Akerson et al.
2000; Khishfe and Abd-El-Khalick 2002). Approaches to teaching the NOS are categorized
as either implicit or explicit (Abd-El-Khalick and Lederman 2000). The implicit approach
contends that engagement in inquiry-based activities and scientific research skills improves
student understanding of the NOS (Abd-El-Khalick and Lederman 2000; Khishfe and Abd-
El-Khalick 2002). Clough (2006) further suggests that implicit experiences (e.g., prede-
termined laboratory activities, textbook descriptions of facts) cause mistaken notions of the
NOS. The explicit approach maintains that opportunities for reflection, discussion, and
journal writing are necessary for developing informed views of the NOS (Abd-El-Khalick
and Lederman 2000). These same authors contend that the explicit approach is more
effective than the implicit approach in enhancing contemporary views of the NOS.
Clough (2006) emphasizes the importance of instruction that allows students to reex-
amine their ideas within the context of historical or contemporary examples. This type of
explicit and contextualized NOS instruction is directly related to scientific research. In
contrast, decontextualized NOS instruction employs activities (e.g., puzzle-solving activ-
ities, black-box activities) that serve as analogies to authentic science so that students learn
about particular NOS issues. Explicit decontextualized NOS instruction does not allow
students to compare their perceptions of science with what takes place in the research
laboratory (Clough 2006).
Our study draws particular attention to the context of scientists working within their
laboratories. We did not provide any intervention except a writing activity after watching
the documentary. Students were asked to write their own thought about science (e.g., the
process of development of scientific knowledge, the characteristics of scientific knowledge,
scientists) based on the episodes of documentary after watching the documentary The
writing activity provides students with an opportunity of reflection (Wibel 1991). By
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considering this context, students are able to reflect on their own ideas of the NOS with
knowledge of how scientific investigations really take place.
Unfortunately, students seldom have the opportunity to experience authentic laboratory
research. Two previous studies explored the benefits of providing students with such an
opportunity. Bell et al. (2003) provided an 8-week apprenticeship program to tenth and
eleventh graders in which students participated in research design, data collection, and data
analysis within a laboratory. After this apprenticeship, however, students showed little
change in their views of the NOS and of scientific inquiry. For example, most students
thought that a scientific investigation involves only a single approach, and they did not
recognize that further questions might arise. The authors conceded that, due to time
constraints, the apprenticeship program did not teach all aspects of scientific inquiry.
Furthermore, interviews with the mentors revealed that most of them focused on applied
skills and techniques meaning that, even though these high-achieving students were
engaged in a wide range of experimentation, their views of the NOS and of scientific
inquiry were underdeveloped.
In a similar study, Schwartz et al. (2004) provided pre-service teachers with a research
internship program that included journal writing and seminars. Throughout the 10-week
program, interns spent an average of 5 h per week in a research setting where their
activities were rated as low inquiry, moderate inquiry or high inquiry. Low inquiry
activities included following predetermined procedures and did not include critical deci-
sion making. In contrast, high inquiry experiences included designing and conducting an
investigation allowing for personal decision making. Among the 13 participants, eight
students experienced a low level of inquiry and only one experienced a high level of
inquiry. Therefore, most of the students did not experience all of the aspects of scientific
research. Both the Bell et al. (2003) and Schwartz et al. (2004) studies conclude that it is
not realistic to expect students to experience a whole process of scientific research due to
time limitation (Bell et al., an 8-week of science apprenticeship program; Schwartz et al.,
an average of 5 h per week for the 10 weeks) as well as due to the level of their
involvement into the scientific research.
The results of these studies partially justify our efforts here to produce a half an hour
documentary which conveys an entire process of a scientific endeavor. The project itself
took almost 8 years from its conception to its completion. The documentary showed what
caught the researchers attention at the beginning, how they established research questions
and methodology, how they struggled to overcome hurdles, how they collaborated and
competed with other scientists, what they have learned through the research, and what
would be the next steps following a successful project. This would provide students with an
indirect laboratory experience so they can learn more about the authentic process of
research within the limited time allowable in the classroom.
4 Purpose of the Research
Our goal was to produce a scientific documentary, ‘‘Life as a Scientist: People in Love with
Caenorhabditis elegans, a Soil Nematode’’, and further to evaluate the usefulness of the
film as an instructional tool to teach the NOS. The aim of the documentary was to
demonstrate how scientists work in the research setting (e.g., laboratory), how they
establish research questions, how they define success, how they put forth research meth-
odology, and how they communicate results with other scientists.
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In order to evaluate the use of the documentary as a teaching tool for the purpose of
developing students’ understanding of the NOS, the following research questions guided
the second half of this study:
1. How do the scientific epistemological views of students change after watching the
documentary?
2. Which aspects of the nature of science do students observe within the documentary?
5 Research Methodology
5.1 Production of the Documentary
The first draft of the storyboard was developed by two of the authors and the nictation
research team of the Laboratory of Genetics and Development at Seoul National University
(P.I. Professor Junho Lee) and was revised by a script writer. A professional filming crew
interviewed the researchers and produced the film which then, after the final editing,
resulted in a 30 min documentary titled ‘‘Life as a Scientist: People in Love with
C. elegans, a Soil Nematode’’.
5.2 Evaluation of Usefulness of Documentary as an Instructional Tool for NOS
5.2.1 Participants and Context of the Study
A total of 163 college students (122 men, 41 women) from a private university in Korea
participated in this study. The university has 22 colleges, 95 departments, and 16 schools of
graduate studies. The enrollment at the time of this study was about 36,900 students
including 10,000 graduate students. The full-time teaching faculty consisted of 1,120
professors. The participants came from the two General Education Curriculum (GEC)
courses titled ‘‘Imagination, Science and Technology’’ and ‘‘Scientists and Engineers at
Work with the World’’ (both 2 credit hours). The majors of participants were quite diverse,
including students from humanities, social sciences, natural science, engineering, and
education.
5.2.2 Instrument and Data Analyses
5.2.2.1 Scientific Epistemological Views (SEVs) Before and After Viewing the Documen-
tary In order to track the changes in students’ views toward science after watching the
documentary, an instrument for assessing scientific epistemological views (SEVs) devel-
oped by Tsai and Liu (2005) was used. This instrument consisted of 19 items on a five-
point Likert scale and included five subscales: the role of social negotiation on science
(SN), the invented and creative reality of science (IC), the theory-laden exploration of
science (TL), the cultural impact on science (CU), and the changing and tentative features
of science (CT). The major features of each subscale are represented in Table 1 as
described in Tsai and Liu (2005). This instrument was administered as a pretest prior to
viewing the documentary and then again as a posttest. The Cronbach alpha (coefficient for
internal consistency) for this instrument was 0.642, which is similar to the value reported
by Tsai and Liu (a = 0.67). The t test was utilized to compare score differences before and
after watching the documentary to determine statistical significance.
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5.2.2.2 The Open-Ended Questionnaire on Aspects of NOS Embedded in the Documen-
tary After watching the documentary, the students were asked to write about the elements
of the NOS they had observed in the documentary. Data were analyzed by categorizing the
student responses into nine predetermined themes (Osborne et al. 2003). Osborne’s nine
themes drawn by a Delphi study of the expert community encapsulate key ideas about the
nature of science. Each of the student responses was then rated independently by two
individuals. Seventy-nine percent of the ratings agreed, and assessments that did not agree
were resolved through discussion between raters.
6 Results
6.1 The Documentary, ‘‘Life as a Scientist: People in Love with Caenorhabditis
elegans, a Soil Nematode’’
The documentary ‘‘Life as a Scientist: People in Love with C. elegans, a Soil Nematode’’
(running time, 30 min) focuses on research into the nictation of a tiny worm, C. elegans
(Lee et al. 2012). The film is available at YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=MXkQzBkqvOI&list=PL3Jzk_rP9Eq2NQUp8TXZ12ThKVrw8FHac). Nictation is a
behavior of the worm that it stands on its tail and waves its head in all directions. When it
faces with harsh conditions such as food depletion, hot temperature, or high population, the
worm enters the dauer state, and it is during this stage that shows a behavior known as
nictation. C. elegans is a model animal that has been studied extensively, particularly for
questions of neurobiology and development. More than half of the genes in this worm have
homologs in humans, making studies of C. elegans relevant to human applications.
For the documentary, research on nictation was chosen as an example of a scientific
process for several reasons. Since nictation is a peculiar behavior in that it appears to waste
energy through aimless dancing when the worm is on the verge of death, the behavior
alone may well raise students’ curiosity about the research subject. In addition, the
Table 1 Description of subscales of SEVs (Tsai and Liu 2005)
Subscale Description Item examples
SN The role of socialnegotiation onscience
The development of science relies oncommunication and negotiationsamong scientists
New scientific knowledge acquires itscredibility through its acceptance bymany scientists in the field
IC The invented andcreative realityof science
Whether students understand thatscientific reality is invented rather thandiscovered
Scientists’ intuition plays an importantrole in the development of science
TL The theory-ladenexploration ofscience
The idea that scientists’ personalassumptions, values, and researchagendas may influence the scientificexplorations they conduct
Scientists’ research activities will beaffected by their existing theories
CU The culturalimpact onscience
The cultural-dependent nature of thedevelopment of scientific knowledge
Different cultural groups have differentways of gaining knowledge aboutnature.
CT The changing andtentativefeatures ofscience
The conceptual change of scientificprogression: scientific knowledge isalways changing
Contemporary scientific knowledgeprovides tentative explanations fornatural phenomena.
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nictation can be monitored through a microscope; hence here in the documentary one can
actually watch the behavior on the screen. This would help students to keep focused on the
research process and easily to follow the footsteps of the researchers.
Secondly, we could find as many important and fundamental aspects of science embedded
in the nictation research as a single scientific project could deliver. This is the main reason that
we decided to produce a documentary based on this research. Although provided indirectly,
students can experience the entire research process from the beginning until the end in an
authentic laboratory situation. In a synopsis, aspects of the research process were interwoven
with the everyday life of four scientists who carried out the work. In the meanwhile, we aimed
to incorporate concepts of the NOS as much as the story tells about the NOS.
Described below are examples of how the documentary presents the nine epistemo-
logical themes of science as outlined by Osborne et al. (2003). The production of the film
was motivated primarily to show the ‘realities’ of research life at graduate schools to
undergraduates, and was not strictly based on Osborne et al. (2003)’s NOS themes, We
wanted to capture how research topics are selected, how ‘breakthroughs’ are made and how
the teamwork is crucial in the knowledge-making at the lab. Naturally, most of Osborne
et al. (2003)’s themes are incorporated in the film although we did not work our storyboard
following point by point of their items. Still we were able to identify the corresponding
elements to each of the nine themes in our documentary.
6.1.1 Scientific Method and Critical Testing
6.1.1.1 Careful Experiments are Carried Out to Test Hypotheses The researchers
hypothesized that nictation might allow C. elegans to catch rides on fruit flies as a dispersal
strategy. To test this idea, they examined whether or not nictation played a role in the
ability to be relocated by fruit flies. In one scenario, the experimental group contained
nictating dauers and fruit flies while the control groups contained non-dauers and fruit flies.
It was observed that only dauers that were nictating were transported to a new plate
containing their food, E. coli, in the presence of fruit flies. This controlled experiment
provided evidence that the hypothesis could be correct.
6.1.1.2 Experimental Breakthroughs Depend upon New Technology Although nictation
behavior was interesting and had been observed for a long time, it was difficult to study
because there were no methods available to measure this behavior in a systematic way. In
the documentary, the research team describes how they developed successful new methods
and were then able to ask new questions. The first method they developed was the use of
gauze to encourage nictation, which allowed the researchers to observe nictating worms at
a population level. They subsequently developed ‘‘micro-dirt chips’’ that allowed them to
monitor individual nictating worms. These studies demonstrated how quantitative mea-
surements contribute to scientific knowledge and provided an example of how scientific
breakthroughs depend upon the availability of technology.
6.1.1.3 A single Experiment is Not Sufficient The scientists in the documentary describe
how, after extensive literature searches, experimentation, and discussion, they were able to
conclude that the neurotransmitter acetylcholine was involved in C. elegans nictation.
They were then able to put forth another set of hypotheses and predictions. If nictation
behavior occurs when acetylcholine is made in a particular neuron, then a worm missing
that neuron should not be able to nictate and, furthermore, the ability to nictate should be
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restored if that particular neuron is restored. A series of experiments to test this hypothesis
were carried out using techniques such as mutant analyses, rescue experiments, and genetic
engineering to delete and restore specific neurons. Seemingly endless experimentation,
literature searches and discussions lead the researchers to the following conclusion: worms
nictated if acetylcholine was made in a neuron called IL2. When they used genetic
engineering to construct a worm lacking the IL2 neuron, nictation was greatly reduced, and
once the IL2 neuron was restored in the mutant, nictation was also restored. The hypothesis
was supported by extensive experimental evidence and concluded to be correct.
6.1.2 Creativity
6.1.2.1 Passion and Involvement Beget Creativity Researchers have a passion for their
work and for their experimental animals. This was very well represented in the words of
the graduate students in the film: ‘‘It was so cool when I first saw worms nictate, and the
fact that you can study this in genetic and neurobiological ways really added to my
fascination.’’ ‘‘I don’t remember a particular event as being the best moment, but I think it
felt the best when a small idea of mine turned out to be true.’’ ‘‘I think it’s the excitement
of being one of the first people in the entire universe to take a look at this. That excitement
and exhilaration is something that only scientists can feel.’’ This passion carries the sci-
entists through the many tedious and difficult days that are inevitably part of research.
6.1.2.2 Creativity of Management is Important in Scientific Research One of the
important messages we wanted the film to convey to students is that science is not a field
reserved for geniuses; rather, scientific knowledge has been developed by ordinary people
who have combined thoughtful creativity with a passion for nature. An interviewee at the
end of the film said, ‘‘A scientist should work on original research, and the research results
should be reliable and solid, and finally the research should be interesting to fellow
scientists. To get those kinds of results, you need to juggle your limited resources, limited
manpower, and limited time, and put together your ideas and inspirations as well as factors
that occur by chance.’’
6.1.3 Historical Development of Scientific Knowledge
6.1.3.1 History Plays an Important Role in Development of Scientific Knowledge The
idea of worms hitchhiking on insects did not arise out of thin air. It reflects an idea
proposed by Charles Darwin about 150 years ago called ‘‘the dispersal of life’’. In The
Origin of Species, Darwin describes how some freshwater snails cling to the feet of ducks
in order to move to new locations. Similarly, the researchers in the documentary propose
that nictation is a dispersal strategy of soil nematodes in nature, serving as an important
means for survival and propagation in harsh environments. Even though Charles Darwin
first reported hitchhiking behavior as a means for dispersal, the nictation research team was
the first to describe a cellular mechanism for such a behavior.
6.1.3.2 Science is a Human Endeavor Personal experience often influences the choice of
a research theme. One of the graduate students, Daehan Lee, relayed a story about hearing
a lecture about C. elegans by a Nobel Laureate at a science festival in his junior year of
middle school and the positive impression this had on him. Dr. Junho Lee, on the other
hand, deliberately chose C. elegans, thinking that he would be able to use this model
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system to work on development or the nervous system at a world-class level. Dr. Lee began
his work on C. elegans exploring the anesthetic effects of ethanol. It was explained in the
narration as a fitting topic for a person who enjoys drinking beer with his colleagues.
When research is at a standstill, each scientist has his or her own way of dealing with
the challenge; they might be seen jumping rope on the roof, walking around campus,
writing or reading a leisure book. Dr. Junho Lee chooses to talk with students or play
tennis. Diverting their attention from science helps them come up with fresh ideas and
renew their enthusiasm for research. The scientists eventually return to the lab after
spending time away. As is often true in science, patience and persistence pays off.
6.1.4 Science and Questioning
6.1.4.1 Science is a Sequential Series of Questions Nictation is a peculiar behavior in
that it appears to waste energy. Therefore, the behavior alone may well elicit questions
from students such as: ‘‘Why do the worms have nictation behavior?’’ ‘‘How do they
nictate?’’ The documentary demonstrates that similar questions led the scientists to initiate
their research on nictation. In the documentary, it is also clearly demonstrated that even
though the researchers published many papers, there were still many more questions to be
answered. This is reflected in the closing remarks of the three graduate students featured in
the film: ‘‘The paper on nictation was published, but that just means that the research is
starting out, so I have a lot to work on in the future.’’ ‘‘I’m interested in not just one neuron
but in how neuro-networks result in behavior, so that’s what I’ve been focusing on
recently.’’ ‘‘I’m still kicking it around with the worms, as always. I’ve been looking at how
nictation developed and evolved.’’
6.1.4.2 How and Why Questions in Biology Biology can be divided into two separate
fields, functional biology and evolutionary biology, which differ in that functional biolo-
gists tend to ask ‘‘how’’ questions and evolutionary biologists tend to ask ‘‘why’’ questions
(Myer 1961). In the nictation research, however, scientists raised both types of questions.
For the ‘‘how’’ questions, they asked: ‘‘Can we find a way to analyze nictation?’’ ‘‘Do all
C. elegans nictate?’’ ‘‘What causes C. elegans to show nictation behavior?’’ Once they
learned more about how the worms nictate, they began to ask, ‘‘Why do they nictate?’’
‘‘Could it be that the worms are trying to escape from an unfavorable environment with no
food?’’ The fact that the team asked a variety of scientifically significant questions and
found valid answers provides an example of good scientific research.
6.1.5 Diversity of Scientific Thinking
6.1.5.1 Heuristic Approaches and Chances Play a Role in Science Before initiating
nictation, the nematode needs to climb up some sort of support. Initially, nictation was
observed only after the bacterial prey had been depleted and the culture dish had become
contaminated by fungus. Once the worms had climbed up the fungus, they would begin
nictating. The researchers took a heuristic approach to find a more controllable way to
provide this support. They tested a variety of materials including the bristles of a tooth-
brush, small pieces of human hair, broken glass, egg shells, and many other objects, but
nothing worked. As a last resort, a researcher tried the cotton gauze from a first-aid kit and
finally nictation was observed! In the experiment described earlier, only the worms that
climbed up the gauze and nictated were transported by fruit flies to a new plate when either
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nictating or non-nictating worms were kept with fruit flies in a small toolbox. The gauze
was a material the researchers had added on a whim, but when it actually worked, they
were very excited.
6.1.6 Analysis and Interpretation of Data
6.1.6.1 Healthy Skepticism is a Key Ingredient in Scientific Analysis and Interpretation Sci-
entific knowledge is formulated through a skilled analysis and interpretation of experimental
data (Osborne et al. 2003), therefore it is important for a scientist to be very careful not to
misinterpret or distort the data. When the researchers found that the nematodes were trans-
ported by fruit flies to another place in the experimental setting, they did not rush to the
conclusion that nictation is a dispersal strategy of the worm. Instead, they paused to consider
other possibilities. Perhaps the phenomenon was simply due to the artificial experimental
setting of a small toolbox. The researchers were cautious enough to say that further verifi-
cation was necessary, particularly because this would be the first example of a free-living
worm using an insect for transportation. To follow up, they attempted to observe this behavior
in a natural setting by visiting a greenhouse where worms could be found living on rotting
fruit. The individual fruits were positioned far enough apart that it was unlikely the
small worms could travel from one to the next without assistance. The documentary contains
footage at a microscopic level showing a nictating nematode hitching a ride on an insect. This
observation supported the idea that nictation is a behavior maintained through natural
selection.
6.1.7 Science and Certainty
6.1.7.1 Scientific Research is Not Certain, While Scientific Knowledge Looks Certain Com-
mon conception of science, especially among students comes naturally from their experience
of ‘science’ mostly in the form of their primary and secondary education. Although proper
NOS education is duly emphasized recently, the predominant experience of a typical student
as regards science is through their struggling with difficult math problems (what is the root of
the given second-order equation?) or figuring out the ‘correct’ answer to pre-designed science
questions (what is the terminal speed of a ball rolling down the given slope?). It is no wonder
that students typically believe the meaning of scientific results should be ‘transparent’ to
everybody just as the solution to a pre-designed problem (if properly formulated) is. Also, the
results (or more precisely the meaning of the results) once obtained cannot be changed just as
the solution to a given math problem remains the same all the time. In this particularly sense,
science to them is ‘certain’, that is transparent in its correctness, and therefore unchangeable.
The documentary shows that the ‘making’ of scientific knowledge is not transparent,
and therefore not certain in this particular sense.1 Scientists have to endlessly discuss with
each other in order to find out the exact ‘meaning’ (scientific significance) of an interesting
phenomenon (nictation). They have to figure out its mechanism (how-answer) and
1 The documentary shows that the ‘making’ of scientific knowledge is not done in an algorithmic way,following a pre-given route dictated by the scientific method. Researchers should improvise at every crucialjuncture of their research and make ‘wise’ choices to move forward. That feature of the documentarycaptures what we mean by ‘uncertainty’ of scientific ‘research’. Still, it is important to keep in mind that thescientific ‘knowledge’ obtained from the proper validation process usually by the relevant scientific com-munity is taken to be certain, meaning not arbitrary, despite its historically ‘tentative’ (that is, revisablethrough further research) nature.
Production of a Science Documentary 1207
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evolutionary origin (why-answer). Their search for answers is full of failed but quite
reasonable trials, which looked ‘certain’ to take in themselves. Nevertheless, the team
arrived at a satisfactory answer to their questions, and recovered the ‘certainty’ of science
(or more aptly, scientific knowledge), while suggesting the lacunas of their research and
deciding to pursue follow-up questions. In sum, the documentary shows perhaps rather
subtly (see the Sect. 6.2.2) an unfamiliar message to viewers; scientific research is not
certain in the sense that the process is full of contingencies through which scientists have to
make their results transparent and establish the certainty of scientific knowledge.
6.1.8 Hypothesis and Prediction
6.1.8.1 Testable Hypotheses and Predictions are Made Once research questions have
been posed, testable hypotheses are formulated based upon information gleaned from
literature searches and/or initial observations. Knowing that animal movements such as
nictation require transmission of signals between neurons, usually through chemicals
called neurotransmitters, the research team hypothesized that at least one or more neuro-
transmitters are involved in nictation. Furthermore, they predicted that nictation would not
be observed if a mutant worm does not produce a particular neurotransmitter. After testing
a collection of mutant worms, they found that a mutant unable to nictate was defective in
acetylcholine synthesis. They then hypothesized that C. elegans might use nictation to
catch rides on insects, and they predicted that if they put nictating worms and insects
together, they might observe the worms being transported by the insects.
6.1.9 Cooperation and Collaboration in the Development of Scientific Knowledge
6.1.9.1 Scientific Research is Collaborative One of the common myths in science is that
scientists are antisocial geeks who work alone in a dark dungeon (Finson 2002; Haynes
2003; Long and Steinke 1996). The documentary depicts a contrasting, more accurate,
scenario of four scientists working cooperatively to carry out a research project. From the
beginning of the process when initial ideas about the scientific question are formed to the
end of the process when a paper presenting the results is published, they have been
continually talking to each other, working together, troubleshooting for each other, and
finally composing the paper together. In addition, through collaboration with yet another
scientist, Professor Sung-soo Park at Ehwa Women’s University, an expert in the field of
nanotechnology, they were able to develop a method for measuring nictation. This cutting-
edge technology was particularly useful to the project. At the end of the documentary we
see Dr. Junho Lee leave to spend a sabbatical year in Sweden giving viewers a glimpse into
international collaborations, a common occurrence in modern science.
6.1.9.2 Publishing the Work in a Peer-Reviewed Journal Is a Major Reward to Scientists These
researchers were the first in the world to show that C. elegans nictates to promote survival and
reproduction, and they went on to identify the cellular basis of this behavior, collecting
important clues about which neural networks are involved. The research was published in
Nature Neuroscience, a renowned scientific journal in the field of neuroscience.
6.1.9.3 Scientific Research Is a Social Activity That Naturally Includes Competition Scientists
are happy and productive when they pursue research on topics that interest them; however,
1208 S. Y. Kim et al.
123
difficulties may arise when they discover that other scientists have collected data on the same
topic. The film includes a story about this type of competition. When work on the effects of
ethanol on the nervous system of the worm was published by another team, the head of
research team did not hide his disappointment. He said, ‘‘It was really disappointing that our
research lost the chance to be the leading research in the field, and became reduced to
supporting research. It became a situation where all the hard work that had been put in
wouldn’t be acknowledged as deserved.’’
6.2 A science Documentary as an Instructional Tool for NOS
We assessed whether or not there were any changes in the scientific epistemological views
(SEVs) of college students before and after watching the documentary, ‘‘Life as a Scientist:
People in Love with C. elegans, a Soil Nematode’’. The students were not explicitly taught
about NOS per se during the course. Especially they never heard of (at least in the classes)
sophisticated discussions of NOS of science education literature including Osborne et al.
(2003) or Tsai and Liu (2005). In addition, students were asked to describe any aspects of
the NOS they had observed in the documentary.
6.2.1 Changes of Students’ Scientific Epistemological Views (SEV)
SEV scores for five different subscales were collected and, when taken together, the scores
had increased significantly after watching the documentary (p \ 0.01) (Table 2). Notably,
the scores for social negotiation (SN) were significantly higher in the posttest, suggesting
that these students recognized this particular aspect of science after watching the docu-
mentary. In contrast, the scores for cultural impacts (CU) were significantly lower in the
posttest (p \ 0.05), indicating that the documentary made students think that the devel-
opment of scientific knowledge is culture-independent.
6.2.2 Aspects of NOS in the Documentary as Identified by Students
Students were given an open-ended questionnaire in which they were asked to identify any
aspects of the NOS they had observed embedded in the documentary. Student responses
Table 2 Statistical values of students’ scores of scientific epistemological views
Scale Number of items Pretest (n = 157) Posttest (n = 157) t df p
M SD M SD
SN 6 22.97 2.80 24.69 2.60 -7.863 156 0.000**
IC 4 16.92 2.32 16.89 2.12 0.235 156 0.815
TL 3 11.82 1.77 11.63 1.61 1.190 156 0.236
CU 3 10.36 2.15 9.94 2.14 2.616 156 0.010*
CT 3 12.00 1.90 12.17 1.66 -1.173 156 0.243
Total 19 74.06 5.80 75.31 5.37 -3.088 156 0.002**
SN the role of social negotiation, IC the invented and creative reality of science, TL the theory-ladenexploration of science, CU the cultural impacts on science, CT the changing and tentative features of science
* p \ 0.05; ** p \ 0.01
Production of a Science Documentary 1209
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were categorized based on the nine themes of ideas-about-science described previously
(Osborne et al. 2003). Figure 1 shows the percentage of students who mention each theme.
Approximately half of the responses included the theme ‘‘cooperation and collabora-
tion’’. Osborne et al. (2003) defined this theme as: scientific work is a communal and
competitive activity; scientific work is often carried out in groups; new knowledge claims
are to be accepted by the community. Many students had previously envisioned scientists
working alone in the laboratory, but after watching the documentary they realized that
research is a communal activity requiring the continual sharing of ideas and thoughts with
colleagues. Furthermore, some of the students recognized that general approval by the
scientific community is necessary for new knowledge to be accepted. The following are a
few representative responses about ‘‘cooperation and collaboration’’.
I imagined scientists as being lonely. I am familiar with the typical image of scientists wearing awhite gown and studying alone, which is contrasted to the image of people working on social sciencediscussing and debating with their colleagues to share their thoughts. However, after watching thedocumentary, my thoughts changed. I also learned that scientists share their opinion and cooperatewith each other. (B11)
Scientific knowledge is formed by multiple experiments as well as other scientists’ recognition… Thedocumentary showed good examples of it, such as scientists discussing their research every morningor the professor leaving for collaborative research abroad. (A11)
I learned that scientific knowledge is formed only after other scientists in the same field acknowledgethem. The scientists were upset when other research teams published a paper that is same as theirs,and they were very happy when they published a paper. (C30)
The role of creativity and imagination in science was mentioned by 21 % of the stu-
dents. Osborne et al. (2003) defined ‘‘creativity’’ as: science is an activity that involves
creativity and imagination as much as other human activities; scientists are passionate and
involved humans whose work relies on inspiration and imagination. Students recognized
that creative new ideas could come from anyone with a passion for their subject. Some
students noted that creativity might arise from trivial everyday experiences and specifically
mentioned how scientists in the documentary came up with the idea of using gauze from a
first aid kit to quantify the number of nictating worms.
Before I watched the documentary, I thought scientific advancement was achieved by the intuition ofa handful of genius scientists born with brilliant ingenuity and different mindsets. The documentarymade me realize that scientific knowledge is developed through ‘‘persevering research’’ in combi-nation with the patience and creativity of common people. (Y76)
Fig. 1 Percentage of students who describe each NOS theme
1210 S. Y. Kim et al.
123
In order to get satisfactory achievements, scientists need to think about their research fields not onlyin the laboratories but also during their everyday lives. It seems that creative thinking in everyday lifeand the daily deliberations eventually make new scientific outcomes. (A7)
In the documentary, the researchers are full of passion. They do research late at night, and imme-diately prepare for experiments whenever new ideas come up. I think that to successfully performscientific experiments, new ideas and perseverance that concretizes the ideas are necessary, as in thecase where the researcher observed the movement of the worms using gauze. (A38)
In the documentary, scientists tested several possibilities to find the condition that nematodes nictate,and they finally observed the nictation behavior in detail. From this episode, I realized that scientistsneeded the ability to think of new ideas and implement the ideas in concrete experiments. It seemslike a very simple idea, but I am not sure if I would be able to come up with such ideas in the samesituation with the scientists shown in the documentary. (C9)
Using gauze to observe the movements of C. elegans was very interesting. Previously, they failednumerous times using hair. Coming up with the idea to substitute gauze for hair made me realize howmuch creative imagination is essential for scientists. (A4)
Comments encompassing the theme ‘‘science and questioning’’ were mentioned by
19 % of students. These students primarily noted that scientific research begins with
curiosity or questioning.
Scientific knowledge starts from endless curiosity and questioning. In order to pursue their curiosity,scientists plan new experiments and study using them. Scientists in this documentary continuouslyquestioned to find out why the worm nictates. (B5)
The theme ‘‘diversity of scientific thinking’’ was included in 16 % of the responses. The
theme ‘‘diversity of scientific thinking’’ was defined as: science uses a range of a methods
and approaches; there is no one science method (Osborne et al. 2003). These students
recognized the diverse scientific methods presented throughout the documentary and
understood that there is more than one correct approach to solving a problem.
When scientists started to work in a new area that no one ever worked and therefore no standardmethods were developed, it was quite surprising that they rely on heuristic approaches. (Y9)
I thought scientists would get their results just like we solve a math problem by substituting figuresinto a formula. But it was interesting that they have to go through a myriad of thinking and trials toget a result. (Y11)
Scientific knowledge could be found by chance. In the documentary, one researcher found thesolution while taking a rest. From this episode, I realized that scientific knowledge could be producednot only within the standardized procedures but also by coincidence, as in Archimedes’ ‘‘Eureka!’’moment. (B17)
A similar number of students (15 %) described ‘‘scientific method and critical thinking’’
defined as science uses the experimental methods to test ideas (Osborne et al. 2003).
Students A29 and C13 both mentioned the importance of experimentation and student C24
makes particular note of how laboratory equipment was used to observe a nematode.
Scientific knowledge is obtained by setting up a hypothesis and testing it. It is different from studiesin humanities in that science utilizes experiments. (A29)
Developing scientific knowledge starts from observing a certain phenomenon. Just like the case in thedocumentary where the research started from questioning why the C. elegans dances, scientificresearch is done by observing a phenomenon and figuring out the logical causes for it. Scientificknowledge is created when the most appropriate cause is discovered through numerous experimentsand data accumulation. (C13)
The documentary showed many episodes about a nematode. Scientists first observed the diverse typesof nematodes and then researched each type. They used laboratory equipment such as microscopes to
Production of a Science Documentary 1211
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observe worms’ characteristics in detail. I noticed that for the purpose of investigating a certainobject, scientists utilize laboratory equipment. (C24)
Fewer students (12 %) mentioned ‘‘hypothesis and prediction’’ and student D29 spe-
cifically noted the importance of creativity in hypotheses formation.
A lot of research is necessary in order to accumulate scientific knowledge. Such research starts from ahypothesis. The hypothesis decides the direction of a research. Studying a lot may help form areasonable hypothesis, but, for some occasions, I think a lot of knowledge may become an obstacle informing a more creative hypothesis. (D29)
The theme ‘science and certainty’ is defined as current scientific knowledge is the best
we have but may be subject to change in the future (Osborne et al. 2003), and was
mentioned by only 4 % of the students. It is most likely due to the fact that the
‘changeable’ nature of scientific knowledge is difficult to be seen in this episode of a short
period of scientific research on a specific task. We need to also take into account the
possibility that students’ recognition of uncertain nature of scientific research is dispersed
in their responses to the other categories of NOS. It is reasonable to think that the gen-
erality of the theme, ‘science and certainty’ could explain the relative low response from
the students.
Students recognized that scientific knowledge is changeable when there is new evidence
or new interpretations of old evidence. Student A35, for example, reflects that certain
knowledge is generally accepted by the scientific community but could change in light of
new evidence in the future.
Scientific knowledge is developed by other scientists’ acknowledgement. Also scientific knowledgecould be abandoned or revised when new evidence comes up. (A35)
Another 4 % of the responses reflected the theme ‘‘historical development of scientific
knowledge’’, a theme suggesting that science is a human activity influenced by personal
experiences and historical perspectives.
Scientific knowledge starts from the curiosity of human beings. It is formed by the collaboration ofmany researchers who have the same goals. Of course, it is necessary that there are no precedingresearchers on the same subject and that a paper is published and approved by colleagues after theresearch is finalized. The characteristics of scientific knowledge are affected by scientists’ ownthoughts and values because the development of scientific knowledge is made by human beings.(C29)
Finally, a very small percentage (2.45 %) of students recognized that research involves
skillful analysis and interpretation of data. For example, student C20 acknowledged the
expertise required to interpret data.
In the documentary, scientists performed lots of experiments changing the conditions, and interpretedthe data step by step. I was astonished by their ability to interpret data. (C20)
Both quantitative and qualitative data suggest that viewing this documentary helped
students develop an understanding of the NOS. In particular, students learned more about
the social aspects of science and recognized that cooperation and collaboration are
important in the development of scientific knowledge.
7 Discussion and Implication
In this study, we developed a documentary titled ‘‘Life as a Scientist: People in Love with
C. elegans, a Soil Nematode’’ for the purpose of providing students with a direct window
1212 S. Y. Kim et al.
123
into the daily lives of scientists. Even though the nature of science describes how science
works and how scientific knowledge is developed (Lederman 1992; Sandoval 2005), few
studies provide an example of authentic scientific research to support these ideas. The
documentary reflected all nine themes included in the Ideas-About-Science by Osborne
et al. (2003) (scientific methods and critical testing; creativity; historical development of
scientific knowledge; science and questioning; diversity of scientific thinking; analysis and
interpretation of data; science and certainty; hypothesis and prediction; cooperation and
collaboration in the development of scientific knowledge). These themes were presented in
the context of an actual scientist’s laboratory to give students a sense of how each can be
applied.
In the classroom, students often learn about scientific inquiry with the guidance of a
teacher. Previous studies have suggested that such directed activities do not help students
develop understanding of the NOS (Abd-El-Khalick and Lederman 2000; Khishfe and
Abd-El-Khalick 2002). Routine, predetermined laboratory activities result in inaccurate
notions about the NOS (Clough 2006). Furthermore, these inaccurate notions are difficult
to change even after further instruction about the NOS (Abd-El-Khalick and Lederman
2000; Khishfe and Abd-El-Khalick 2002; Clough 2006). Since students rarely have the
opportunity to learn about scientific research firsthand, the documentary allows them an in-
depth look at an actual scientific inquiry through the everyday experiences of four
researchers.
The documentary is especially effective in providing a better understanding of the role
of cooperation and collaboration in scientific research. Both qualitative and quantitative
data represent that this documentary contributes to a better overall understanding of the
role of communication and cooperation. Almost half of students who watched the docu-
mentary noticed in their writings that scientific work is a communal activity where open,
seemingly never-ending discussions and sharing ideas among co-workers are crucial for
productive research, that is, scientific knowledge-making. In addition, our quantitative
results indicate that, among five subscales, the mean scores for the role of social negoti-
ation increased most dramatically (refer back to Table 2).
The messages of the documentary help students debunk some of the common myths
related to NOS. Students often develop erroneous concepts on science such that scientists
are antisocial figures who work alone in a laboratory all the time, science is a field for just a
handful of geniuses not for ordinary people, and scientific practices are a simple problem
solving routine to find out a single right answer, and so forth. For example, they recognized
that their typical image of a scientist as a lonely figure in a white coat working in a
laboratory surrounded only by numerous equipments is a misconception, perhaps a rem-
nant of a pseudo-image from spectacle science films. By watching documentary, they
realized that scientific progress is normally achieved through countless efforts of these
ordinary researchers, rather than by ingenious ideas of a few extremely talented ones.
Some students were even amused by the facts that sometimes heuristic approaches were
used and chances working in the scientific activity. In sum, we can confirm from students’
qualitative comments that they enjoyed their experience of documentary-viewing in dis-
pelling common but incorrect image of science, and appreciating realistic workings of
scientific knowledge-making.
Furthermore, the analyses of the student’s written responses suggested that all nine
themes from the Ideas-About-Science were gleaned from the documentary. However, three
of the nine NOS themes, including science and certainty, historical development, and
analysis and interpretation of data, were mentioned by less than 5 % of students. These
results indicate that there are limitations to simply watching a documentary, especially for
Production of a Science Documentary 1213
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rather abstract topics such as science and certainty, even though we had provided students
with the opportunity to reflect on what they had seen by writing about particular aspects of
the NOS. We cannot help but to accept an obvious fact that just one exposure to the
‘realities’ of scientific life is not enough for viewers to fully digest the intended messages
of the documentary.
We also note that the mean score of cultural impacts on science significantly decreased
after watching the documentary in our quantitative analyses (Table 2). The international
competitions and collaborations are one of the most prominent trends in current scientific
endeavors. In the documentary, the Korean scientists have once competed with an
American research team who was working on the same topic and later they collaborated
with Swedish researchers. The cultural-dependency and the international aspects are
pointing the opposite directions, and this can be partially explained by the fact that the film
appears rather weak in conveying the ‘cultural’ aspects such as described in Tsai and Liu
(2005). The students are likely to pick up the ‘international’ nature of scientific research
rather than the cultural-dependent nature of gaining knowledge about nature through the
documentary.
The documentary-viewing experience can be classified as an implicit approach to teach
NOS, and it is reported in the literature that implicit approach is rarely effective in
influencing students’ views about NOS. We believe that it is significant to have an
‘effective’ implicit method to teach a number of aspects of NOS, excluding a few rather
abstract themes. Our results indicate that the documentary-viewing experience, provided
the documentary is well-designed and depicting faithfully the complex realities of how
science works, can be made even more effective if we supplement this implicit experience
with other explicit methods such as offering a discussion session with help of a guidebook
explaining the ‘hidden’ (that is, not easy to see through in real time) messages of the
documentary.
To be more explicit approach, discussions about each aspect of NOS should be followed
by discursive reflection through writing. Our documentary provides accurate implicit
experiences regarding NOS so that students would likely to develop informed views of
NOS when they have chance to discuss and deliberate on NOS. As Clough (2006) artic-
ulated the importance of contextualized NOS instruction, the documentary provides the
rich context for students to reexamine their exiting ideas within authentic scientific
research. The documentary could be used as a valuable instructional context that important
NOS issues entangle in and draw students’ attention to NOS issues. The explicit approach
such as the opportunities of discussions, journal writing and reflection on episodes of the
documentary will further help students understanding of the NOS.
It is noteworthy that the students’ response we analyzed before should be taken with the
obvious caution to the effect that we examined the result theme by theme while students
obtain their ‘lessons’ from the documentary, presumably in the form of a very complex,
whole experience. In order to get the definite analysis and the useful tips for future
improvement, we had to rely on the ‘analytic’ method as scientists do. But we should
remember that as the analytic method is often limited in understanding complex phe-
nomena, such as documentary-viewing experience. A more comprehensive evaluation
should be helped by looking at the unstructured comments by students as a whole. The
essence we can draw is that student viewers relish their opportunity to see more ‘realistic’
image of scientific research and therefore form more ‘correct’ views of NOS. From stu-
dents’ responses as a whole, we can see that exposing the realistic and complex ‘science in
the making’ can contribute their proper understanding of NOS.
1214 S. Y. Kim et al.
123
In summary, this documentary provides valuable insight into ideas related to the NOS in
the hopes that students will develop informed views on these topics. By presenting a real-
life context and giving students an opportunity to consider these ideas, the documentary
could serve as a valuable instructional tool.
Acknowledgments The authors thank the members of the Laboratory of Genetics and Development atSeoul National University, Harksun Lee, Myung-kyu Choi, Daehan Lee and Junho Lee, for providinginsightful ideas and featuring in the film. We are also thankful to Professor Ho-Yeon Kim for evaluating thedocumentary in the classes of ‘‘Scientists and Engineers at Work with the World’’. This research wassupported by a research fund from Chosun University, 2012.
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