Table 1: Example of references to hands-on science in school in the exit Interviews

Test / Control
… to experiment with all stuff.. Well one time we put a tissue in a glass and we…put it in a bucket and put water in it and we put it down and the tissue didn't get wet because the air was pushing it, the water out of the glass, instead of up it
… at the count of three we poured them all, we poured all the ingredients down and the first one to get to the end you're just seeing which one is a better liquid…(it was a fair test because) we all got at the count of three, we all poured at exactly the same time)
We had to make a switch for a circuit… and me and C. and V. did a brilliant job. C. had this metal… and there was a metal bar, kind of like a right angle, and we had this swirly thingy, we swirled it up and we sello-taped all the wire onto the top of it, so when we turned it up to the top, the metal piece touched it, which lit the entire surface… so we (had to use our imagination) to make the switch / You learn different activities and you learn how to turn on a bulb or a battery and stuff like that… We learn how air can blow up a balloon…
… you get to do experiments and you find out stuff that you didn't actually know before

Table 2: Comparison of NoS and Non-NoS groups' responses relating to different aspects of NoS in the closed questions on the questionnaire

NoS
Initial
(%) / NoS
Exit
(%) / Difference
(%) / Non- NoS
Initial
(%) / Non- NoS
Exit
(%) / Difference
(%)
When scientists give explanations they are always true. / 63 disagree / 96 disagree / + 33 / 75 disagree / 78 disagree / + 3
When scientists discover something it doesn’t change / 22 disagree / 53 disagree / + 31 / 43 disagree / 59 disagree / + 16
Scientists use their imaginations when explaining things. / 29
agree / 65
agree / + 36 / 44
agree / 32
agree / -12
Scientists use their imaginations when doing experiments. / 57
agree / 78
agree / + 21 / 53
agree / 53
agree / 0
Different scientists can have different answers to the same question. / 82
agree / 100
agree / + 18 / 75
agree / 88
agree / + 13
Scientists use their imaginations when they invent things. / 73
agree / 90
agree / + 17 / 75
agree / 81
agree / +6

Table 3 Number of responses made by the NoS and Non-NoS group in each category in the initial and exit questionnaires

NoS (Initial)
(N = 51) / NoS
(Exit)
(N = 49) / Difference / Non-NoS Initial
(N = 53) / Non-NoS Exit
(N = 51) / Difference
BoK / 156 / 226 / + 70 / 232 / 214 / - 18
Skills / 45 / 111 / + 66 / 89 / 99 / + 10
Science and Society / 97 / 154 / + 57 / 111 / 75 / - 36
HoS / 13 / 53 / + 40 / 4 / 1 / - 3
Human End. / 24 / 41 / + 23 / 19 / 9 / - 20

(Note: 1 mark was awarded for every time a reference was made to each category. If a child made more than one reference to a category this was recorded accordingly)

Table 4: Quotations from exit interviews depicting improved NoS conceptions

Aspect of NoS / NoS Group / Non-NoS Group
Tentative and Developmental NoS / … because when Galileo said that the world was round, and, and, everybody didn’t believe him cause they thought that the world was flat and then they, they, trapped, they locked him in his house, so … cause they all said that it was flat and then when he said they, they found out, and, em, they sort of did, cause they did experiments to see / No Comments
Scientific Inquiry / I have an example of figuring out things…teacher gave us a little tiny piece of a picture and you had to figure out what it …(it was working like scientists because) scientists have to guess from the stuff (evidence) they have and we only had, they only have a small piece, and we only had a small piece and we had to guess what (the rest)
Well I learned that even though someone tells you that like this is real they could've just faked it…. Like in the video they had… I weigh one ton and he stood on the weight scales and he said one ton and then he went on an ordinary weighing scales in a bathroom… in order to believe you need proof…so if you don't have proof it would be… well science needs proof so you can actually learn from it / … you get to do experiments and you find out stuff that you didn't actually know before
(Science is) fun and learning more stuff… like when you…do magnets'
Subjective and creative NoS / I think scientists use both (creativity and imagination) because (in science) when we were using that little piece of paper we had to use our imaginations to think what it was but we had to create like what the other part of it was as well… I was kind of thinking about nature because it looked a lot like outside and trees or stones or something
…And, and when you do the conductors and insulators, you have to use your imagination, cause like if you do one thing and it’ll go through it you have to see like, lets just say it was tin foil, then you know that, eh, it’ll probably go through other metals, so you could try other metals and stuff / No Comments
History of Science / Em, Isaac Newton and the apple… It fell off the tree, and it fell, yeah, hit him in the head, and he said, why didn’t that just go up in the air and, eh, why did it come down? / No Comments

Table 5: Words and phrases about science and scientists found in open responses to the questions: What is science? What do scientists do? and What questions might scientists ask?

Words / phrases about science and scientists contained in questionnaires from all groups / Words / phrases about science and scientists contained ONLY in exit questionnaires from NoS children
Investigate / Guess
Experiment / Evidence
Find out / Ask why
Figure out / Finding explanations
Tests / (Scientists) get different answers
Mix / (Scientists) try their best
Discover / (Scientists) get it wrong
Invent / Examine

Table 6(a) Responses from children in NoS classes

Student / What is science? / What do scientists do? / What questions might scientists ask?
Boy, Sam 8yrs initial / Science is about trees, minibeasts, soil / Discover things / How to make new chemicals
Boy, Sam 8yrs exit / Science is about nature and the world. It is about soil and flowers and lots of other things / Scientists discover things and sometimes they make guesses. They are not always right but they do their best. / They could try to discover how were animals made and how glass is made.
Girl, Sue 9yrs initial / I think science is nature / Discover things long ago / Do you know any people who died from their relations? Where we might find (ends)
Girl, Sue 9yrs exit / It is when people (scientists) [child’s insertion] investigate years ago with only a few images to investigate / In fields they dig square to square and find bones of dinosaurs and people and then guess where they all belong / When Galileo discovered the world was round. When nobody believed him and he died who actually went to space to see if it was or not?
Boy, Ben 9yrs initial / I think science is nature and electronics and inventing and chemicals / Invent things discover things / Did you see anything weird around here?
Boy, Ben 9yrs exit / I think science is about finding out new things by what evidence you have / I think scientists gather evidence and try to guess by what evidence they have / How far does the universe go? When will the world end? How long ago did the world start?

*All names are pseudonyms; **Spelling was corrected in all responses. Punctuation was NOT corrected.

Table 6(b) Responses from non-NoS children

Student / What is science? / What do scientists do? / What questions might scientists ask?
Boy, Jim* 8yrs initial / I think science is making a skeleton / A scientist does explore / How do you make things blow up?
Boy, Jim 9yrs ***exit / Science is the weather and it is things that people test / Scientists test some things what they would do / What would scientists do? How would scientists do these really hard things?
Girl, Eve 8yrs initial / I think science is experiments / Scientists find out things about space / How many planets are there?
Girl, Eve 9yrs exit / Science is where you find out interesting stuff. And it’s a way to learn more / I think scientists find out some interesting things like experiments / They might investigate handprints and weather
Boy, Joe 10yrs initial / Science is like people making cures for stuff / They test stuff to see if it is good or bad. / I think they solve how dinosaurs died.
Boy, Joe, 10yrs exit / Science is something that can help investigators solve murders, crimes and break-ins. / Scientists help to cure colds from getting very bad. / I think scientists should investigate why global warming got worse at the turn of the century.

* All names are pseudonyms; **Spelling was corrected in all responses. Punctuation was NOT corrected; ***some children had a birthday between the initial and exit questionnaires