Intended curriculum of nature of science for prospective school science teachers: Scientism in Chinese science teacher educators' conceptions

There is a long history in Western science education advocating the goal of teaching the nature of science (NOS). Recently, NOS is also beginning to find its place in China. An exploratory study investigated Chinese teacher educators' views of the intended NOS curriculum for prospective school science teachers through semi-structured interviews. Five key aspects emerged from the data, among which the intended NOS content for prospective school science teachers is the most socially and culturally embedded. This chapter will focus on illustrating the influence of one prominent aspect of Chinese culture, i.e., scientism, on this dimension. Since scientism is still very popular in the developing countries and regions, it may be necessary to anticipate its influence on the curricula for school science learners and science teachers. Suggestions are given for making decisions on NOS curricula. Copyright © 2018 selection and editorial matter, Kerry J. Kennedy and John Chi-Kin Lee; individual chapters, the contributors.