Images of Science Linked to Labwork: A Survey of Secondary School and University Students Séré, Marie Geneviève Fernández González, Manuel Gallegos, José A. González García, Francisco De Manuel Torres, Esteban Perales Palacios, Francisco Javier Leach, John Science image Laboratory work This paper presents findings about the images of science drawn upon in laboratory work, by upper secondary and university students, in academic streams with a science focus. Data were collected through four written questions, administered to a total of 368 students. The questions all required students to comment on laboratory investigations carried out by research scientists or by science students. We show that students’ reasoning has an epistemological and an ontological dimension, and that it often differs significantly from accepted perspectives on the nature of science. The issue for teaching appears to be showing students what counts (and what does not count) as appropriate reasoning in actual situations. In other words, explicit teaching about the various relationships that can exist between theory and data would transform labwork towards a more critical process that involves making and justifying decisions. 2022-10-10T08:17:22Z 2022-10-10T08:17:22Z 2001-12 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Research in Science Education 31: 499–523, 2001 1573-1898 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/77225 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License Kluwers Academic Pubhishers