A comparative study of history of science, philosophy of science, and combined instruction on students’ understanding of the nature of science in a Chinese high school context

Despite the empirical evidence for the role of the history and philosophy of science in science education, the independent effects of history and philosophy of science courses have not been comparatively studied. Hence, this study implemented three elective courses—philosophy of science, history of science, and history and philosophy of science—in Chinese high schools to explore their impact on students’ understanding of the nature of science, as conceptualized in the Family Resemblance Approach. It addresses the following question: to what extent do these courses influence students’ scientific perceptions in both cognitive-epistemic and social-institutional systems? Pre- and post-course questionnaires were used to assess changes in students’ views and compare the effects across the three instructional approaches. The results of this study showed that the philosophy of science course helped students improve their cognitive-epistemic systems. Meanwhile, students who took the other two courses improved their understanding of the nature of science in terms of both cognitive-epistemic and social-institutional systems. The results of this study provide valuable insights into the connection between the history and philosophy of science in the teaching process and offer practical implications for science education. However, given the small sample size and the non-random assignment of instructional groups, the findings should be interpreted with caution and warrant further investigation in more diverse and representative contexts.