ABSTRACT
This chapter explores a virtues approach to teaching the nature of science in secondary and post-secondary science education. Advocates of scientism are eager to absorb scientific information and methods and enjoy talking more about the material after classes. Advocates of scepticism, by contrast, may be wary of things they dub to be “just a theory” and instead only believe in the truth of scientific claims if they have the perceived status of a law. Citizens need to be able to assign value to scientific information intelligently. Ideally, citizens should be able to tell the difference between credible and dubious scientific information and be able to draw reasoned conclusions from it for their own behaviour and for social policy. The value of informed decision-making within democratic societies is a powerful reason why education researchers recognize a need for a comprehensive view of the nature of science to be taught as part of science education.
