Analysis of responses to the open-ended questionnaire and interviews indicated that
participants' views of the nature of science were, in general, consistent with the contemporary
conceptions of the scientific enterprise emphasized in the MAT program. In this regard, the two
cohorts views were more alike than different. All participants in both groups expressed the belief
that science is empirically based and that its empirical nature sets science apart from other ways
of knowing. They viewed scientific knowledge, in general, as tentative, although like the
previous cohort, participants in the current study believed laws to be less tentative than theories.
Most acknowledged the role of creativity in the construction of scientific ideas, dismissing the
view of science as a completely objective and rational activity. Subjectivity, including the
individuality of scientists, their backgrounds, and their beliefs, was viewed as playing a major
role in the development of scientific ideas. Finally, like preservice teachers in the previous
cohort, the participants in the present study were able to distinguish between observation and
inference and articulate the role of models as representations, rather than exact replicas, of
experienced phenomena