Prospective biology teachers’ understanding of the nature of science through an analysis of the historical case of Semmelweis and childbed fever

This article presents a qualitative study of the understanding of various epistemic and non-epistemic aspects of the nature of science (NOS), based on analysis of the historical case of Semmelweis and childbed fever. To this aim, an activity was designed which consisted of: (1) reading of a narrative of the case without instruction and discussion in small group about several questions related to NOS aspects alluded in the text; (2) an instructor-mediated critical discussion (whole class session) of the groups’ initial responses to the questions, and (3) rethinking the groups’ first responses after whole class discussion. The activity was implemented as part of the training of prospective biology teachers (PBTs), taking an explicit and reflective approach. The effectiveness of the activity was analysed by seeking to answer the following research questions: (1) What ideas do PBTs have about the NOS aspects dealt with after a first reflective reading of the historical case? (2) What changes have taken place in their ideas about those aspects once the activity has been completed? To evaluate the PBTs’ learning, a rubric was applied by means of a process of inter-rater analysis. The results showed improvement in the understanding of both the epistemic and non-epistemic NOS aspects addressed, with this improvement being remarkable in some cases. The article concludes by highlighting the didactic utility of this NOS learning and teaching activity, and proposing suggestions for improvements in future implementations.