Comprensión de aspectos epistémicos de la naturaleza de la ciencia y valoración de su dimensión social.

The importance of nature of science (NOS) rests on several untested assumptions. This study examines the assumption that an informed understanding of some epistemic NOS aspects would be related to a greater appreciation of science, in 6th grade of elementary education (N = 341). The results revealed more positive attitudes in students with informed views of the «tentative» and «observation and inferences» aspects of NOS, which offers empirical support for the cultural argument for teaching NOS in elementary education. While these findings underlie the educational value of NOS, there is a need for future studies addressing this aspect through NOS frameworks that overcomes the limitations of the one named in the literature as the consensus view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]