The Baconian Background of Hogben’s Scientific Humanism

2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 171-187
Author(s):  
Başak Aray ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Nature Of Science ◽  
Scientific Literacy ◽  
Popular Science ◽  
International Language ◽  
Life Conditions ◽  
Historiography Of Science ◽  
Practical Life ◽  
Abstract Ideas ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Lay Public

This essay examines the impact of Baconian utilitarianism on Lancelot Thomas Hogben (1895–1975), a biologist whose view of science was heavily intertwined with his support of socialist planning. Like Bacon and Marx, Hogben considered science to be a collective tool of utmost importance for empowering people and improving life conditions through a conscious and methodical intervention on our surroundings. Convinced by the fundamentally applied nature of science, Hogben successfully used the principles of the emerging Marxist historiography of science in his popular science books to teach abstract ideas through their origins in practical life. Furthermore, he extended the view of science as planning from biology and economics to linguistics by designing the international language Interglossa that would also serve to enhance scientific literacy in the lay public.

Exploring Pre-service Science Teachers’ Perspectives on the Nature of Science: A Comparative Study Between China and Canada

2021 ◽  
pp. 209653112096678
Author(s):  
Guihua Zhang ◽  
Yuanrong Li ◽  
George Zhou ◽  
Sonia Wai-Ying Ho
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Science Education ◽  
Science Teacher ◽  
Nature Of Science ◽  
Science Teachers ◽  
Scientific Literacy ◽  
Survey Design ◽  
Science Teacher Education ◽  
Teaching Behaviors ◽  
Preservice Science Teachers

Purpose: The Nature of Science (NOS) is an important component of scientific literacy. Science teachers’ Views of the Nature of Science (VNOS) directly affect their teaching behaviors. Therefore, it is of great significance to explore science teachers’ VNOS and find ways of improvement. This study was designed to comparatively investigate preservice science teachers’ VNOS between China and Canada. Design/Approach/Methods: The study employed a survey design to explore how Chinese and Canadian preservice science teachers understood the seven different aspects of NOS. Findings: Data showed that preservice science teachers in China and Canada both hold a modern view about science education. The level of Chinese and Canadian participants’ understanding of NOS was above the relatively naive level. Chinese teachers had better macro-understanding toward science education but their micro-mastery was insufficient. While the Canadian participants had a better understanding of the NOS than their Chinese counterparts. Originality/Value: Based on the research results and the experience of science education and teacher education in Canada, we suggested that there is a need to reconstruct the preservice science teacher education curriculum in China and promote the transformation in the science teacher educational system.

scholarly journals TEACHING MADURA LOCAL CONTENT LITERACY ON PRESERVICE SCIENCE TEACHER USING LWIS MODEL

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-112
Author(s):  
Mochammad Yasir ◽  
Ana Yuniasti Retno Wulandari
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Literacy ◽  
Science Learning ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Learning Model ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Learning Context ◽  
Integrated Science ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Academic Year

Several previous studies have shown that students have difficulty integrating ethnoscience into science learning. Students are more likely to be introduced to the basic concepts of ethnoscience without involving how to integrate ethnoscience into science learning. The impact is that students’ scientific literacy is low. This is what underlies researchers to apply the Local Wisdom Integrated Science (LWIS) learning model by using local Madurese content to train students’ scientific literacy. The aim of this study was to evaluate differences in student scientific literacy after implementing the LWIS learning model in ethnoscience learning with local Madurese content. The method used was pre-experimental study with one group pretest-posttest design. When the study was carried out in the even semester of the 2019/2020 academic year by taking 22 students via purposive sampling technique as a sample of all students in class 6A of science education, Trunojoyo University, Madura. Analysis of data using descriptive statistics and paired sample t test. The results showed that there were different in the scientific literacy of the students using the LWIS learning model before and after studying ethnoscience with local Madurese material. The entire LWIS syntax helps train students' scientific literacy by including self-awareness of the importance of local Madurese content as a learning context. Ethnoscience can be integrated into science learning through the STEAM approach. The contribution of STEAM to the LWIS learning model and self-awareness is very significant in developing ethnoscience learning for local Madurese content from elementary, middle, and tertiary level. 

Combining Poetry and Science to Create Scientific “Thesis Poetry” as a Tool for the Communication of Science

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 516-524 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mitsuru Tada
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Literacy ◽  
Scientific Paper ◽  
Lay People ◽  
Communication Of Science ◽  
Research Scientists ◽  
Paper Format ◽  
Lay Public

Research scientists are expected to communicate their science to the lay public. However, lay people need scientific literacy in order to understand science. Both science and poetry are aspects of culture that connect people and might be able to expand their reach by incorporating elements of each other. “Thesis poetry” based on the IMRaD (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion) scientific paper format could promote understanding and empathy between scientists and the lay public, and foster and improve scientific literacy. This article proposes a thesis poem format incorporating empirical and personal logic and data drawn from original papers as a tool for the communication of science.

scholarly journals Getting Past the Gateway: An Exploratory Case on Using Utilitarian Scientific Literacy to Support First-Year Students At-Risk of Leaving STEM

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 265
Author(s):  
Chambers ◽  
Salter ◽  
Muldrow
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Scientific Literacy ◽  
Student Experiences ◽  
Control Group ◽  
First Year ◽  
Students At Risk ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Stem Pipeline ◽  
Literacy Course ◽  
The Impact

First-year students who enter college pursuing a STEM degree still face challenges persisting through the STEM pipeline (Chen, 2013; Leu, 2017). In this case study, researchers examine the impact of a utilitarian scientific literacy based academic intervention on retention of first-year students in STEM using a mixed methods approach. A sample (n = 116) of first-year students identified as at-risk of not persisting in STEM were enrolled in a for credit utilitarian scientific literacy course. Participants of the semester long course were then compared with a control group of first-year students identified as at-risk of persisting in STEM. A two-proportion z test was performed to assess the mean differences between students and participants of the course were given a survey to gauge student experiences. Quantitative results (φ 0.34, p < 0.05) indicate that the utilitarian scientific literacy course had a statistically significant impact on retention among first-year students at-risk of persisting in STEM. Moreover, qualitative data obtained from participant responses describe internal and external growth as positive outcomes associated with the intervention.

scholarly journals Primary Student Teachers’ Understanding of Basic Ideas of Nature of Science: Laws, Theories and Models

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Constantina Stefanidou ◽  
Constantine Skordoulis
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Nature Of Science ◽  
Scientific Literacy ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
International Policy ◽  
Primary Student ◽  
Basic Ideas

Nature of Science is an integral part of scientific literacy which researchers and international policy-making institutions highlight as the purpose of science education. The notions of scientific law, theories and models are crucial for understanding the Nature of Science. These notions are better grasped in the historical context of Nature of Science.  For this purpose, appropriate instructional sequences, based on semi-structured interviews, were designed and implemented to investigate whether and how the student teachers of Primary Education can perceive these concepts. The study revealed that after particular difficulties were confronted, student teachers were able to grasp firmly the notions of scientific law, theories, models and the relationships among them.

scholarly journals Young adolescents’ engagement in dietary behaviour – the impact of gender, socio-economic status, self-efficacy and scientific literacy. Methodological aspects of constructing measures in nutrition literacy research using the Rasch model

2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (14) ◽  
pp. 2565-2574 ◽  
Author(s):  
Øystein Guttersrud ◽  
Kjell Sverre Petterson
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Field Test ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Scientific Literacy ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
The Self ◽  
Dietary Behaviour ◽  
Socio Economic Status ◽  
Tenth Grade ◽  
The Impact

AbstractObjectiveThe present study validates a revised scale measuring individuals’ level of the ‘engagement in dietary behaviour’ aspect of ‘critical nutrition literacy’ and describes how background factors affect this aspect of Norwegian tenth-grade students’ nutrition literacy.DesignData were gathered electronically during a field trial of a standardised sample test in science. Test items and questionnaire constructs were distributed evenly across four electronic field-test booklets. Data management and analysis were performed using the RUMM2030 item analysis package and the IBM SPSS Statistics 20 statistical software package.SettingStudents responded on computers at school.SubjectsSeven hundred and forty tenth-grade students at twenty-seven randomly sampled public schools were enrolled in the field-test study. The engagement in dietary behaviour scale and the self-efficacy in science scale were distributed to 178 of these students.ResultsThe dietary behaviour scale and the self-efficacy in science scale came out as valid, reliable and well-targeted instruments usable for the construction of measurements.ConclusionsGirls and students with high self-efficacy reported higher engagement in dietary behaviour than other students. Socio-economic status and scientific literacy – measured as ability in science by applying an achievement test – did not correlate significantly different from zero with students’ engagement in dietary behaviour.

scholarly journals Comparison of Views of the Nature of Science between Natural Science and Nonscience Majors

2010 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie C. Desaulniers Miller ◽  
Lisa M. Montplaisir ◽  
Erika G. Offerdahl ◽  
Fu-Chih Cheng ◽  
Gerald L. Ketterling
Keyword(s):  
Nature Of Science ◽  
Scientific Literacy ◽  
Environmental Science ◽  
College Graduates ◽  
Science Majors ◽  
Science Courses ◽  
Nonscience Majors ◽  
Upper Level ◽  
Undergraduate Science ◽  
Science Educators

Science educators have the common goal of helping students develop scientific literacy, including understanding of the nature of science (NOS). University faculties are challenged with the need to develop informed NOS views in several major student subpopulations, including science majors and nonscience majors. Research into NOS views of undergraduates, particularly science majors, has been limited. In this study, NOS views of undergraduates in introductory environmental science and upper-level animal behavior courses were measured using Likert items and open-ended prompts. Analysis revealed similarities in students' views between the two courses; both populations held a mix of naïve, transitional, and moderately informed views. Comparison of pre- and postcourse mean scores revealed significant changes in NOS views only in select aspects of NOS. Student scores on sections addressing six aspects of NOS were significantly different in most cases, showing notably uninformed views of the distinctions between scientific theories and laws. Evidence-based insight into student NOS views can aid in reforming undergraduate science courses and will add to faculty and researcher understanding of the impressions of science held by undergraduates, helping educators improve scientific literacy in future scientists and diverse college graduates.

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