Using the Terms Experiment, Theory, Model, and Law in Mathematics and Natural Sciences

Scientific literacy implies an adequate understanding of central notions which characterize scientific reasoning. Nature of Science studies have lead to a general consensus of what experiments, models, theories and laws imply at school. They do not take into account how these terms are handled in recent domain-specific theory and research. In order to come to a closer understanding we analyzed domain-specific literature and conducted a survey into the notions of these terms by interviewing experts of the science subjects and mathematics. The results of literature analysis reveal differences in the meaning of the terms between subjects. Moreover, experts show serious inconsistencies in using the terms. The results will be presented in this paper and can be used as a starting point to draw conclusions for science teacher education.