scholarly journals TEACHING THE NATURE OF SCIENCE THROUGH STORYTELLING: SOME EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM A GRADE 9 CLASSROOM

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yannis Hadzigeorgiou
Keyword(s):  
Nature Of Science ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Cultural Dimension ◽  
Creative Activity ◽  
Explicit Teaching ◽  
History Of ◽  
Understanding Of Science

The instructional question of how to teach ideas about the nature of science effectively has been a challenge, but, according to the literature, explicit teaching appears to be the best way. However, the use of narratives, which incorporate actual events from the history of science, can also help illustrate the human and the larger socio-cultural context in which scientific knowledge was developed. Such context facilitates students’ understanding of science as a human endeavour, which is characterized by successes and failures as well as problems and struggles. It makes them aware of the fact that scientific knowledge is tied to human hopes, expectations, passions, and ambitions. Moreover, the use of narratives can help students understand such ideas as: scientific knowledge, while durable, is tentative and subject to revision, people of both sexes and from many countries have contributed to the development of science, science is a creative activity, science has a socio-cultural dimension, and also that there is not a standard scientific method, as scientists use a variety of approaches to explain the natural world. A recent empirical study provides evidence that such ideas can indeed be understood by 9th graders.

Religion and Science in Early American Psychology

1987 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard Spilka
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Nature Of Science ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
History Of Psychology ◽  
Philosophical Psychology ◽  
Religion And Science ◽  
Early American ◽  
American Psychology ◽  
History Of

Most texts in the history of psychology ignore American contributions prior to the appearance of Hall and James. This may be a function of the strong religious inclinations of the pre-Jamesians, but there is reason to believe their views were of significance to the later development of American psychology. The present article attempts to place the psychology of this time into historical-cultural context, and then explicate the nature of science during that period The paramount place of religion in this philosophical psychology is discussed Finally, the implications of these ideas for contemporary psychology are brought to the fore. The need for further attention to the work of these religious American philosopher-psychologists is emphasized.

How to Be Antiscientific

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-191
Keyword(s):  
Nature Of Science ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Scientific Practices ◽  
Main Thrust ◽  
Specific Research ◽  
Institutional Issues ◽  
Science Wars ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Relativistic Position

This article is a response to the science wars that broke out in the mid-1990s. It focuses on an analysis of pragmatics and the nature of the use of statements about science by scientists. What triggered the science wars were the relativistic and constructivist claims of sociologists and historians of science about their field, but the author demonstrates that scientists themselves indulge in similar judgments. As an interested observer, he shows through a series of examples that the metascientific claims of scientists about the nature of science and the scientific method are diverse and often contradict each other. Possible conclusions to be drawn from this variability are then analyzed. The first one is that some metascientific statements by scientists are true and others are false. The second one suggests that all metascientific statements made by working scientists should be ignored. The author shows that both these conclusions are unsatisfactory. The main thrust of the article pertains to the variability of metascientific statements and their relationship with science itself. According to the author, metascientific statements, which often oppose each other, do not describe a single essence of science or a universal scientific method, but they highlight instead specific aspects of scientific practices localized in space, time and cultural context. This makes the relationship between metascience and science contingent, and the question of how to be antiscientific becomes problematic. The author outlines invalid ways to be antiscientific and shows how a relativistic position could be not antiscientific. One can have confidence in the sciences and yet be skeptical about the metascientific statements which offer a single essence of science. The author finds that being for or against a certain essence of science in general means being against nothing very much in particular. What matters is local criticism within a science itself or in the separate parts of it which are associated with specific research or institutional issues.

scholarly journals 2008: retrospectiva dos 50 anos da geologia na UFRJ e olhar crítico para o futuro

2008 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-23
Author(s):  
Emílio Velloso Barroso ◽  
Josué Alves Barroso ◽  
Arthur Eduardo Diniz Gonçalves Horta ◽  
Ismar De Souza Carvalho
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Rio De Janeiro ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Educational Activities ◽  
Job Opportunities ◽  
History Of ◽  
Understanding Of Science

The history of 50 years of the Geology undergraduate course of Rio de Janeiro Federal University and the 40 years of its Graduate Geology Program is part of the scientific knowledge of the Brazilian Geology during this period. The five decades of geology undergraduate course are analysed with respect to available job opportunities during that period and the own evolution of Geology as science. It is also analysed the widen of the educational activities of the Geology Department through public understanding of science

scholarly journals The Nature of Science and Technology in Teacher Education

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bodil Svendsen
Keyword(s):  
Nature Of Science ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Science Classroom ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Epistemology Of Science ◽  
Values And Beliefs ◽  
Essential Questions ◽  
Way Of Knowing ◽  
Education Science

This chapter is about the Nature of Science (NOS) and the Nature of Technology (NOT) in education. Science includes the systematic study of the structure and actions of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment, and technology is the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes. NOS and NOT have been used to refer to the epistemology of science, science as a way of knowing, or the values and beliefs inherent to the development of scientific knowledge. These characterizations, nevertheless, remain general, and philosophers of science, historians of science, and the same goes for NOT. Subsequently, an individual’s understanding that observations are constrained by our perceptual apparatus and are characteristically theory-laden is part of that individuals understanding of the NOS and NOT. In general, NOS and NOT refers to principles and ideas which provide a description of science and technology as a way of knowing, as well as characteristics of scientific knowledge. Many of these intrinsic ideas are lost in the everyday aspects of a science classroom, resulting in students learning misaligned ideas about how science is conducted. Understanding how technology relates with science and society is critical for individuals to make informed personal and societal decisions. Nevertheless, in most STEM education contexts, learning about technology typically only means learning how to be an efficient user or, perhaps, an informed competent designer of. A meaningful technology education stresses that science education efforts also teach students about NOT. Essential questions like what technology is, how it is related to, yet distinct from, science, how it shapes and is shaped by society, and perhaps most importantly, how technologies impact the way individuals think and act.

Geopolitics, Culture, and the Scientific Imaginary in Latin America

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
American Science ◽  
Scientific Innovation ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of

The chapter authors detail local engagements with technology and the natural world in Latin America across time and reveal the social, political, and economic conditions that have led to the relative obscurity of such research in a world history of science. Comparative thinking is an important feature in this volume, as it helps situate the issue of Latin American scientific innovation within the global currents of science and understand the particular inequalities they produce and reproduce. The asymmetries that govern the global production of scientific knowledge have certainly affected the kind of science that is possible “at the periphery,” to use the term adopted by many Latin American historians of science. While examining a number of cases from the colonial times to the present, we propose a critical understanding of how such asymmetries have operated. To give an example, the history of science in Latin America has been bound up, since colonization, with that of Spain, sharing its peripheral status in the global history of science. This representation is now beginning to be challenged with greater attention to the “dynamic and multiple” exchanges that characterized the production and dissemination of scientific knowledge in the colonial era and to the particular forms taken by colonial science. A number of chapters in this volume contribute to this new thrust in scholarship on colonial Spanish and Latin American science.

Scientific Method and Prose Style in the Early Royal Society

1993 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 239-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank D. Walters
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Technical Writing ◽  
The Other ◽  
Writing Style ◽  
Scientific Experimentation ◽  
Prose Style ◽  
History Of

This article discusses two conflicts occurring during the first decade of the Royal Society (1660–1670). One conflict concerned the proper method of scientific experimentation, the other the proper writing style for communicating scientific knowledge. Following the method proposed by taxonomists, language would be a vehicle for representing the order of reality in its undisturbed state. Following the method proposed by conjecturalists, language would be a means for constructing a theory and arguing for its validity. Members of the Society were divided over these crucial questions, as evident in scientific documents of the period as well as in Thomas Sprat's History of the Royal Society. Parallels to this division are present in contemporary issues in technical writing, and this article closes by discussing some implications for teaching, practice, and theory.

Contingency, Nature and Hermeneutics in History of Science

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-310
Author(s):  
Jeroen Bouterse
Keyword(s):  
History Of Science ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Scientific Development ◽  
Sociology Of Scientific Knowledge ◽  
History Of ◽  
Strong Programme

When, as historians, we want to explain developments in the history of natural science, how are we to do justice to the role of the natural world – the thing scientists investigate – in our explanations? The idea that the structure of the natural world renders the development of science inevitable seems to be inadequate, but so does the idea that we should explain the history of science without any reference to nature, as if what scientists study made no difference at all to what they believe. Is ‘nature’ even a feasible category, however? To what extent is it a problem that in referring to the result of scientific development in our explanation of scientific development, we are assuming the authority of science? Does this undermine the possibility of critical and independent historiography? This article deals with several possible solutions to these problems, and outlines an alternative to rationalism as well as to the Strong Programme in the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge and Latour’s Actor-Network Theory.

The Scientific Methods of Biology, Starting with Charles Darwin

2016 ◽  
Vol 78 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-117
Author(s):  
Cristina Sousa
Keyword(s):  
Nature Of Science ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Scientific Methods ◽  
Theory Of Evolution ◽  
Instructional Framework ◽  
The Past

The choice of the scientific method to be used depends on the question to be investigated, the type of study being performed, and the maturity of the particular subdiscipline. I review the scientific methods frequently used in biology since Darwin, the aspects of the nature of science relevant for teaching and learning about evolution, and some recent studies that tested the theory of evolution and some of its features. I also present some guidelines for teachers, within an inquiry-based instructional framework, to facilitate students’ understanding that hypothesis-driven and observation-driven studies are equally important and responsible for the advancement of scientific knowledge in the field of biology, both in the past and in the present.

scholarly journals Redes de Sociabilidade como estratégia para o ensino de ciências

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 73-81
Author(s):  
Kelly Regina Silva Campos Reversi ◽  
Luiz Felipe Campos Reversi ◽  
Ana Maria De Andrade Caldeira ◽  
João José Caluzi
Keyword(s):  
History Of Science ◽  
Nature Of Science ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Bcg Vaccine ◽  
Common Belief ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Neutral Activity ◽  
Externalist Approach

Resumo Existe uma crença comum entre os estudantes e até mesmo entre professores de que a ciência é uma busca solitária e que as idéias aparecem espontaneamente na mente dos cientistas. Esta é uma percepção estereotipada sobre a natureza da Ciência que procuramos superar mostrando as pesquisas de Albert Calmette (1863 - 1933), em parceria com Camille Guérin (1872 - 1961), sobre o desenvolvimento da vacina BCG utilizando uma Rede de Sociabilidade elaborada por nós, uma vez que a História da Ciência pode contribuir para o entendimento dos processos e mecanismos pelos quais a ciência é elaborada. Organizamos as contribuições de Albert Calmette, no período de 1905 a 1933, para o desenvolvimento da vacina BCG. Para tanto, utilizamos os trabalhos originais publicados por ele. Nestes trabalhos, mostramos controvérsias e diálogos com outros pesquisadores, integrando uma abordagem internalista e externalista da História da Ciência, fazendo uma discussão dos conceitos científicos em seus trabalhos e as influências sociais, econômicas e políticas no respectivo contexto histórico. É possível observar como a interação com outros estudos e ideias do período orientaram as pesquisas de Calmette. A Rede de Sociabilidade pode ajudar os alunos a superar suas visões deformadas da Ciência, como as supracitadas e outras, dentre elas a de que a ciência é uma atividade neutra e que os conhecimentos científicos são sempre construções lineares.Palavras-chave: Rede de Sociabilidade, História da Ciência, Ensino de Ciências Abstract There is a common belief among students and even among theachers that science is a solitary pursuit and that ideas appear spontaneously in the minds of scientists. This is a stereotyped perception about the nature of Science that we seek to overcome by presentig the researches of Albert Calmette (1863-1933), in partnership with Camille Guérin (1872-1961), on the development of the BCG vaccine using a Sociability Network developed by us , since the History of Science can contribute to the understanding of the processes and mechanisms by which science is elaborated. We organized the contributions of Albert Calmette, from 1905 to 1933, for the development of the BCG vaccine. For this purpose, we used the original papers published by him. In these papers, we show controversies and dialogues with other researchers, integrating an internalist and externalist approach to the History of Science, by doing a discussion of the scientific concepts within his papers and the social, economical and political influences in the respective Historical context. It is possible to observe how the interaction with other studies and ideas of the period had oriented Calmette's researches. The Sociability Network can help students overcome their deformed views of science, such as those above mentioned, including that science is a neutral activity and that scientific knowledge is always a linear constructs. Keywords: Sociability Network, History of Science, Science teaching

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