FROM TRUTH TO INVENTED REALITY - A DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF HIGH-SCHOOL PHYSICS STUDENTS TALK ABOUT SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE

Students' views of the nature of scientific knowledge have been recogn ized as an important component of science learning environments. In th is study, we analyze an extensive data base consisting of 23 students' written and oral discourse about ontology, epistemology, and sociolog y of scientific knowledge collected over a 15-month period in the cont ext of two consecutive junior- and senior-level physics courses. Over a 2-month period at the beginning of the second year, students read, r eflected on, and talked about a text which discusses epistemology in t he context of physics. Our study shows that students drew on nine type s of discursive resources to support their ontological, epistemologica l, and sociological claims. Toward the end of the study, the range and number of supportive statements had increased. Simultaneously, few st udents changed their ontological and sociological claims, but a consid erable number changed their epistemological claims. Two case studies i llustrate the development of student discourse in the course of the st udy.