A Cultural History of Science Education in Japan: an Epic Description

Author(s):  
Masakata Ogawa
2018 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-242
Author(s):  
JAMES POSKETT

AbstractWhat is the history of science? How has it changed over the course of the twentieth century? And what does the future hold for the discipline? This ‘Retrospect’ provides an introduction to the historiography of science as it developed in the Anglophone world. It begins with the foundation of the Cambridge History of Science Committee in the 1940s and ends with the growth of cultural history in the 2000s. At the broadest level, it emphasizes the need to consider the close relationship between history and the history of science. All too often the historiography of science is treated separately from history at large. But as this essay shows, these seemingly distinct fields often developed in relation to one another. This essay also reveals the ways in which Cold War politics shaped the history of science as a discipline. It then concludes by considering the future, suggesting that the history of science and the history of political thought would benefit from greater engagement with one another.


Author(s):  
Leandro Londero ◽  
Monica Abrantes Galindo ◽  
Marcos Serzedello

Resumo: Analisamos na tradução feita para o inglês, por Elisabeth Carter, em 1739, a obra de Francesco Algarotti “Sir Isaac Newton’s philosophy explain’d for the use of ladies. In six dialogues on light and colours”. Buscamos compreender os aspectos que a caracterizam como uma publicação para damas e identificar possíveis questões de gênero. Identificamos na obra uma tendência machista na ciência e elementos que evidenciam um imaginário de que a mulher não teria as qualidades necessárias para compreender a ciência, elementos esses coerentes com a transição de um período em que as mulheres eram consideradas inferiores em todos os aspectos para um outro no qual a construção do papel materno aparece como fundante de uma concepção de mulher não mais inferior, mas fundamentalmente diferente do homem e com papeis complementares a ele. Podemos dizer que esses imaginários podem influenciar as possibilidades de participação das mulheres na empreitada científica.Palavras-chave: Educação em Ciências; História da Ciência; Ciência e Sociedade (Gênero). History of Science and gender relations: a publication of “Sir Isaac Newton’s philosophy explained for de use of ladies. In six dialogues on light and colours”Abstract: We analyze Elisabeth Carter's 1739 translation of Francesco Algarotti's "Sir Isaac Newton's philosophy explain'd for the use of ladies. In six dialogues on light and colors. "We seek to understand the aspects that characterize it as a publication for ladies and to identify possible gender issues. We identified in the work a macho tendency in science and elements that evidence an imaginary that women would not have the qualities necessary to understand science, elements that are consistent with the transition from a period in which women were considered inferior in all respects to a another in which the construction of the maternal role appears as the founder of a conception of woman no longer inferior but fundamentally different from man and with roles complementary to him. We can say that these imaginary can influence the possibilities of participation of women in the scientific enterprise.Keywords: Science Education, History of Science; Science and Society (Gender). 


2015 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 310-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renee M. Clary ◽  
James H. Wandersee

In many science classes, students encounter ‘final form’ science (Duschl 1990, 1994) in which scientific knowledge is presented as a rhetoric of conclusions (Schwab 1962). Incorporation of the history of science in modern science classrooms combats this false image of linear science progression. History of science can facilitate student understanding of the nature of science, pique student interest, and expose the cultural and societal constraints in which a science developed, revealing science's ‘human side’ (Matthews 1994). Carefully selected and researched episodes from the history of science illustrate that scientists sometimes chose incorrect hypotheses, misinterpreted data, and argued about data analysis. Our research documented that historical vignettes can hook students' attention, and past controversies can be used to develop students' analysis and argumentation skills before turning class attention to modern controversial issues. Historical graphics also have educational potential, as they reveal the progression of a science and offer alternative vehicles for data interpretation. In the United States, the National Science Education Standards (United States National Research Council 1996) acknowledged the importance of the History and Nature of Science by designating it as one of eight science content strands. However, the new United States Next Generation Science Standards (Achieve 2013) no longer include this strand, although the importance of the nature of science is still emphasized in the science framework (United States National Research Council 2012). Therefore, it is crucial that science education researchers continue to research and implement the history of science via interdisciplinary approaches to ensure its inclusion in United States science classrooms for better student understanding of the nature of science.


Author(s):  
Josep Simon

This article focuses on physics textbooks and textbook physics in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with particular emphasis on developments in France, Germany, Britain, and the United States. It first examines the role that physics textbooks played in the early stages of the professionalization of the history of science before presenting a general overview of the genesis of textbook physics in the nineteenth century. It also looks at major textbooks produced in France and the German states while making some reference to British and American textbooks. Finally, it considers recent scholarship dealing with textbooks in the history of physics. The article shows how our views on textbooks have been shaped by events that have established particular hierarchies between scientific research and science education, and between universities and schools. It argues that the study of textbooks would benefit from greater reflexivity.


Author(s):  
Juliana Mesquita Hidalgo ◽  
Daniel De Medeiros Queiroz

ResumoO presente trabalho visa contribuir com a fundamentação teórica para a escrita de biografias científicas com fins didáticos. O gênero biográfico é um legítimo foro de “humanização” do conhecimento científico, um dos papéis centrais da inserção didática da História da Ciência. Recortes biográficos que não representem os cientistas com caráter sobre-humano, escritos não como absoluta verdade, e sim como história interpretada, podem ser úteis no contexto educacional. Sugerimos a escrita de recortes biográficos destinados à educação científica que considere os novos aportes do gênero, isto é, à luz de fundamentos historiográficos atualizados. São apresentados subsídios da área disciplinar História, a exemplo da perspectiva de história-problema, e subsídios da História da Ciência, em objeção às biografias laudatórias.Palavras-chave: Biografia Científica; Gênero Biográfico; Historiografia.AbstractThis paper aims to contribute for the theoretical foundation concerning the writing of scientific biographies for didactic purposes. Biographical genre is a legitimate forum “to humanize” the scientific knowledge, one of the central roles of the didactic insertion of the History of Science. Biographical fragments not representative of scientists as “superhuman” and written as interpreted history, may be useful in the educational context. We suggest the writing of biographical fragments for science education that consider the new contributions of the genre, in other words, in light of historiographical foundations currently accepted. Subsidies from the disciplinary area History are presented, such as the perspective of history as problem, and subsidies from History of Science, in objection to laudatory biographies.Keywords: Scientific Biography; Biographical Genre; Historiography.


1978 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-43
Author(s):  
Michael L. Berger ◽  
Gene Grabiner ◽  
Susanne McNally ◽  
Eugene Lubot ◽  
David DeLeon ◽  
...  

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