Promoting Environmental Citizenship Through Local Socio-Cultural Traditions in Science Education

This article asks how the site-specific parameters of pro-environmental behaviour can be seen in educational doctrines and in the practices of science education, and what impact they have on the development of environmental citizenship. Environmental citizenship as an agent of change is key to sustainability transition. Our viewpoint is that a contextual resource doctrine provides a framework of people’s environmental values, meaning both the capacity to fulfil the requirements of the doctrine and the ability to critically reflect it by rational-scientific arguments. Thus, place-specificity and sense of place should be highlighted in citizenship science education. In order to explain the multi-scalar nature of learning requirements, we apply the idea of ‘trans-contextualisation’ in science education. In the article we use examples which are derived from university students’ favourite places reflecting sense of place as well as three cases, which start from the near secondary school students’ environment and discuss local environmental issues. In this study we used qualitative and quantitative research methods. The results show that by promoting contextually sensitive environmental citizenship through Socio-scientific Issues (SSI) in science education, we could accelerate the transition to sustainable future. If cultural traditions, anecdotal and local knowledge are not incorporated in the expert scientific knowledge, sustainability transition is constantly in danger for remaining an isolated activity in the shadow of resource realism.

Enhancing scientific argumentation skill through partnership comprehensive literacy

This study focuses on the use of Partnership Comprehensive Literacy (PCL) as a reading strategy to support reading in science and to explore the level of students’ Scientific argument. Partnership Comprehensive Literacy consist of 4 components that address the topic of the reading activity: the statements of the content, what I think, what the texts say, and evidence of the text. This study uses a mix method to identify and improve students’ scientific argumentation skills. The instrument used is a set of questions about electricity and magnetism. In addition, the argument level rubric instrument that contains argument components is used to analyse the level of students’ scientific arguments. The participants of this study were 40 college students consisting of 25 females and 15 males in the department of physics education taking a course in the fundamental of physics. The findings revealed that the students’ level argument was dominated by the use of Claim-Reasoning-Evidence (CRE). In addition, students evaluated that the use of PCL in reading activity as being challenging but an interesting process because they have to find the evidence in the texts to support their statements of what I think.

Magna Cosmogony

<p><strong>Abstract:</strong> This article aims to show that science and faith have always walked closer than is usually thought, and that they can even coexist harmoniously in the same individual. It also seeks to show the sterility of the debate that puts both in direct confrontation, evidencing the often prejudiced and disdainful position of current science towards faith as a characteristic of the human condition, whether or not it is associated with a religion. In a broader approach, it discusses currently existing beliefs about the existence of intelligent life outside the Earth in contrast to the possibilities that science offers in our actual state of technological development. In addition, the work intends to convey the perception that it would be much more constructive to accept faith as a natural manifestation of consciousness that recognizes the limits of knowledge, rather than rejecting it through scientific arguments that, being faith, is manifestly inapplicable.</p><p><strong>Key-words:</strong><strong> </strong>science, faith, cosmogony, cosmology.</p><p>================================================================ </p><p><strong>Resumo:</strong> Este artigo tem como objetivo mostrar que ciência e fé sempre estiveram mais próximas do que normalmente se pensa, e que podem até coexistir harmoniosamente no mesmo indivíduo. Também busca mostrar a esterilidade do debate que as coloca em confronto direto, evidenciando a posição muitas vezes preconceituosa e desdenhosa da ciência atual em relação à fé como característica da condição humana, associada ou não a uma religião. Em uma abordagem mais ampla, discute-se as crenças atualmente existentes sobre a existência de vida inteligente fora da Terra em contraste com as possibilidades que a ciência oferece em nosso atual estado de desenvolvimento tecnológico. Além disso, o trabalho pretende transmitir a percepção de que seria muito mais construtivo aceitar a fé como manifestação natural da consciência que reconhece os limites do conhecimento, do que rejeitá-la por meio de argumentos científicos que, para ela, sendo fé, não se aplicam.</p><p><strong>Palavras-chave:</strong> ciência, fé, cosmogonia, cosmologia.</p>

The role of language in students’ justifications of scientific phenomena

Constructing scientific arguments is an essential skill for members of society, especially in a world facing complex socioscientific issues. Educators can help students develop scientific argumentation skills; however, argumentation is a complex linguistic practice and little is known about how English language learners construct arguments in English. We investigated how undergraduate science students’ English language proficiency and history were associated with their level of reasoning in scientific arguments (N = 166). We found that participants’ English language experiences, including their proficiency and history, were associated with the level of reasoning demonstrated. These findings suggest a need to identify the associated barriers faced by students from diverse language backgrounds and design equitable educational supports and assessments.

Chronic Constipation: Is a Nutritional Approach Reasonable?

Chronic constipation (CC) is one of the most common gastroenterological diagnoses in clinical practice. Treatment includes several steps, depending on the severity of symptoms. Lifestyle modifications and increased intake of fiber and water are suggested by most health professionals. Unfortunately, the recommendations in this regard are the most varied, often conflicting with each other and not always based on solid scientific arguments. This paper aims to clarify this topic by providing practical indications for the management of these patients in every day clinical practice. The literature available on this topic is scarce, and dietary studies have important methodological biases. However, fiber, mainly by binding water and acting as bulking agents and/or as prebiotics for the intestinal microbiota, and mineral water, especially if rich in magnesium and/or bicarbonate, are useful tools. An adequate, well-designed diet should be a cornerstone of any effective treatment for chronic constipation. High-quality studies on larger samples are mandatory to give scientific validity to the role of the food in CC therapy and to enable professionals to choose the best approach for their patients, combining nutritional and pharmacological agents.

Connecting plant species and natural products from the Canadian prairie ecological zone to biomedical knowledge

Natural products from plants in Canadian ecological zones are understudied. There are, however, sound scientific arguments to justify investigation of natural products from plant species found within these zones. We review a broad range of scientific and local literature describing the features of the Canadian prairie ecological zone and the Asteraceae taxonomical family. Species from Asteraceae are well represented in the prairie ecological system, although very few have been investigated for natural products with bio-medical properties. Data from a range of sources that address ecological interactions, abiotic features, and Traditional Knowledge provide a foundation for future scientific studies of plant natural products found within Canadian borders. We draw from discoveries of the Asteraceae family and one of its major classes of secondary metabolites, sesquiterpenes, to stimulate research of Asteraceae species in Canada.

From scientific arguments to scepticism: Humans’ place in the Greenhouse

This article investigates the different roles attributed to humanity in the climate change debate, through the depiction of the greenhouse effect. Our hypothesis is that the stance associated with different genres will not only demonstrate different conceptualisations of the greenhouse effect but also convey different views on humans’ capacity (or lack of capacity) to mitigate climate change. The corpus under study is composed of texts pertaining to three genres which display particular viewpoints: scientific papers present a documented view on the phenomenon, online forum discussions present exchanges between users who endorse or question particular characteristics of the Greenhouse, and sceptical newspaper articles explicitly deny the existence of an anthropogenic phenomenon. Through a corpus-based, cognitive and pragmatic analysis of the metaphorical expression greenhouse effect, the research shows that humans’ place(s) in the Greenhouse is a significant part of environmental argumentative strategies.

Standard of proof in criminal proceedings: “variable” or “stepwise” ?

The article is devoted to the analysis of the issue of division of standards of proof in criminal proceedings, in particular one of the types - variable standard of proof, which is distinguished by scholars of the Anglo-Saxon legal system. The article analyzes the question of the possibility of dividing the standards of proof depending on the severity of the criminal offense. The motives and scientific arguments in favor of distinguishing a variable standard of proof in criminal proceedings are studied. Positively assessing the attempt of the appropriate scientific division of standards of proof in criminal proceedings, the authors argue that it is still impossible to agree with him to the end. In particular, according to the authors, the introduction of a variable standard of proof in criminal proceedings will not contribute to the unity of judicial practice in the process of making procedural decisions during criminal proceedings. In addition, the article argues that decisions in criminal proceedings are made on the basis of internal conviction, which determines and assigns the type and measure of punishment, and not vice versa. Therefore, it is at least surprising the position of some scholars that the sanction of a sentence that can be imposed on an accused must determine the necessary level of “persuasion” (“evidence”) for his appointment. It is argued that in some cases, the establishment of a variable standard of proof in criminal proceedings will lead to a violation of the principles of criminal proceedings, in particular equality before the law and the courts. The article presents the position of the authors on the doubtfulness of establishing the degree of proof of the circumstances of criminal proceedings depending on the severity of the criminal offense, as in criminal proceedings there is a single procedure and the same set of procedural rights.

Konstruksi Epistemologi Fikih Pandemik: Analisis Fatwa-Fatwa MUI

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the behavior of people in the world, both in social, political, cultural and religious practices. The practice of strict health protocols has changed religious practices, both in Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and other faiths. In Islamic countries or countries where the population is predominantly Muslim, the ulama play an important role in legitimizing these changes in religious practice. In Indonesia, there is the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) which plays a role in providing fatwas related to changes in religious practices, such as prayer, zakat, Hajj and burying people who died due to being infected with Covid-19. These fatwas raise the issue of the epistemological construction that underlies the fatwas. Through a philosophical approach and content analysis of the MUI fatwas products, it was found that MUI fatwas were based more on empirical-scientific arguments (burhani) as well as ethical principles of Islamic teachings contained in the principles of maslahah (general good) and syadz al-zari'ah (avoiding danger). This article shows that the legal reasoning built by MUI shows the tendency of epistemology with a realism style based on scientific facts so that religion plays a role in providing legitimacy in the ethical and moral realm in the form of sharia objectives (maqāshid al-syarī’ah).