Intuitions in Science Education and the Public Understanding of Science

The debate about the public understanding of science has taken place at a time when science education in UK schools has undergone significant change. This paper examines some of the features pertinent to the two areas. The aims of school science education are shown to be generally consistent with those cited for increasing the public understanding of science. A comparison is made between the science occurring in the public domain of newspapers with that included in the formal curriculum. A large degree of complementarity is noted leading to the conclusion that schoolchildren's exposure to newspaper science can be beneficial to their formal education. The rationale of journalists in writing about science is considered and the issue of relevance is shown to be consistent with the perceived needs of schoolchildren.

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Understanding understanding: a model for the public learning of radioactivity

Public Understanding of Science ◽

10.1088/0963-6625/8/4/301 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 8 (4) ◽

pp. 267-284 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Steve Alsop

Keyword(s):

Informal Learning ◽

Background Radiation ◽

Public Understanding Of Science ◽

Public Understanding ◽

Change Model ◽

Potential Health ◽

The Public ◽

Understanding Of Science ◽

Conceptual Change Model

While much of the work in the public understanding of science has focused on the public's appreciation of science and their familiarity with key scientific concepts, understanding the processes involved in learning science has largely been ignored. This article documents a study of how particular members of the public learn about radiation and radioactivity, and proposes a model to describe their learning—the Informal Conceptual Change Model [ICCM]. ICCM is a multidimensional framework that incorporates three theoretical dimensions—the cognitive, conative, and affective. The paper documents each of these dimensions, and then illustrates the model by drawing upon data collected in a case study. The emphasis of the analysis is on understanding how the members of the public living in an area with high levels of background radiation learn about the science of this potential health threat. The summarizing comments examine the need for a greater awareness of the complexities of informal learning.

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The roles of rhetoric in the public understanding of science

Public Understanding of Science ◽

10.1088/0963-6625/3/1/001 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 3-23 ◽

Cited By ~ 109

Author(s):

Alan G. Gross

Keyword(s):

Rhetorical Analysis ◽

Public Understanding Of Science ◽

Public Understanding ◽

Minor Role ◽

Contextual Model ◽

Deficit Model ◽

The Public ◽

Science Rhetoric ◽

Understanding Of Science ◽

Social Scientific

In the public understanding of science, rhetoric has two distinct roles: it is both a theory capable of analysing public understanding and an activity capable of creating it. In its analytical role, rhetoric reveals two dominant models of public understanding: the deficit model and the contextual model. In the deficit model, rhetoric acts in the minor role of creating public understanding by accommodating the facts and methods of science to public needs and limitations. In the contextual model, rhetoric and rhetorical analysis play major roles. Rhetorical analysis provides an independent source of evidence to secure social scientific claims; in addition, it supplies the grounds for a rhetoric of reconstruction, one that reconstitutes the fact and facts of science in the public interest.

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Training in Astronomy

Highlights of Astronomy ◽

10.1017/s1539299600019122 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 910-911

Author(s):

M. Gerbaldi

Keyword(s):

Science Education ◽

Theoretical Models ◽

Public Understanding Of Science ◽

Public Understanding ◽

Primary Science ◽

University Colleges ◽

University Level ◽

Understanding Of Science ◽

Physical Laws ◽

The University

Astronomy offers a unique opportunity for promoting the science teaching in its present crisis. Astronomy can be introduced at various levels and become the medium by which both primary science education and public understanding of science are stimulated.At the University level, astronomy can be introduced in the curricula of university colleges and be a subject for M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees. Astronomy, can give students the opportunity to work scientifically from observations and known physical laws in order to derive knowledge in another field of science. Astronomy can be taught with less formalism and more experimentation, giving students a feel for the link between a phenomenon and its theoretical representation, and how and why a given observation can be represented by different theoretical models.

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