The nature of science in the Spanish literature on science education: a systematic review covering the last decade

The understanding of the nature of science (NOS) constitutes a key pillar of citizens' scientific literacy. However, no sufficient and detailed information on the state of NOS teaching in Spain is as yet available. Consequently, it was decided to conduct a systematic review of the topic in the Spanish literature on science education corresponding to the last decade. The study was guided by the following research questions: (1) What attention has NOS received in research and innovation articles published in Spanish Education journals during the period 2010-2019? (2) What types of studies about the teaching of NOS are covered in these articles? (3) What are the educational stages and (student and teacher) populations studied in regard to the teaching of NOS? (4) What aspects of NOS are addressed in its teaching? And (5) what are the contexts or settings used in teaching NOS? The object population of this systematic review was the set of 230 Spanish Education journals indexed in `Dialnet Metricas' (2018), and the standard PRISMA statement procedures and qualitative content analysis methods were applied in carrying it out. The final sample analysed comprised 88 articles published in 17 journals. The results indicate that NOS has been under-served in Spanish science education in general, especially in Primary Education, even though its understanding is part of the scientific competence assessed in PISA tests. It is concluded that NOS teaching is still at a quite incipient stage in science education in Spain, and there is a significant gap between research and practice in this respect. Finally, some recommendations are made in order to foster and improve NOS teaching from the basic levels of education onwards.