The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate if neuroscience, a contemporary example of science-in-the-making, provides a useful domain for contextualized Nature of Science (NOS) instruction. Six pre-service teachers (PSTs) enrolled in an NOS course participated, where the focus of this study was on how NOS views changed as a result of the course and how PSTs attempted to connect neuroscience and NOS. Data included the Student Understanding of Science and Scientific Inquiry (SUSSI) Survey, reflection reports, and audio recordings with transcripts. Results indicated that PSTs held more naïve views of NOS prior to the course. As a result of the course, PSTs improved their understanding of multiple aspects of NOS. Additionally, PSTs grounded their informed understanding of NOS in how science operates as a cultural institution and discovered a conflict between a prescriptive version of NOS via the Lederman tenets versus a descriptive version of how scientists actually operate, influencing the way in which PSTs might teach NOS in their classrooms. The study also found that PSTs connected neuroscience and NOS in different ways. Either PSTs considered neuroscience as a “hard science” that is not subject to NOS tenets, or they found that neuroscience loses its “seductive allure” once it is critically analyzed through a lens of NOS. The findings suggest that neuroscience was a useful context for NOS instruction and, in combination with the explicit reflective approach, had a positive impact on PSTs’ understanding of NOS.

这项探索性研究的目的是调查神经科学这一当代制造科学的实例是否为情境化的科学本质（NOS）教学提供了有用的领域。参加了NOS课程的6名职前教师（PST）参加了本研究，其重点是该课程如何改变NOS的观点以及PST如何尝试将神经科学与NOS联系起来。数据包括学生对科学和科学探究的理解（SUSSI）调查，反思报告以及带笔录的录音。结果表明，PST在课程开始之前对NOS持较幼稚的看法。课程的结果是，PST提高了他们对NOS多个方面的理解。另外，PST在科学如何作为文化机构运作的过程中扎根了他们对NOS的知情理解，并发现通过Lederman原则的NOS的描述性版本与科学家实际操作方式的描述性版本之间存在冲突，从而影响了PST在其科学方法中教授NOS的方式教室。研究还发现，PST通过不同的方式连接神经科学和NOS。PST要么将神经科学视为不受NOS原则约束的“硬科学”，要么发现一旦通过NOS的角度对其进行严格分析，神经科学便会失去其“诱人的诱惑力”。这些发现表明，神经科学是NOS指导的有用背景，并且与明确的反思方法相结合，对PST对NOS的理解产生了积极影响。