Revitalizing Ernst Mach’s Popular Scientific Lectures

Compared to Ernst Mach’s influence on the conceptual development of physics, his efforts to popularize science and his reflections on science literacy are known to a much lesser degree. The approach and the impact of Mach’s popular scientific lectures are discussed in view of today’s problems of understanding science. The key issues of Mach’s popular scientific lectures, reconsidered in the light of contemporary science, still hold a high potential in fascinating a general audience. Moreover, Mach’s grand theme, the relation of the physical to the psychical, is suited to contribute to a dialogue between different knowledge cultures, e.g. science and humanities.     

Evolution and Education: Lessons from Thomas Huxley

Thomas Huxley more than anyone else was responsible for disseminating Darwin’s theory in the western world and maintained that investigating the history of life should be regarded as a purely scientific question free of theological speculation. The content and rhetorical strategy of Huxley’s defense of evolution is analyzed. Huxley argued that the classification of humans should be determined independent of any theories of origination of species. Besides providing evidence that demonstrated the close relationship between apes and humans, he also argued that a pithecoid ancestry in no way degraded humankind. In his broader defense of evolution he drew on his agnosticism to define what science could and could not explain. Theology made empirical claims and needed to be subject to the same standards of evidence as scientific claims. He maintained that even most scientific objections to evolution were religiously based. The objections to the theory fundamentally remain the same as in the nineteenth century and much can be learned from Huxley to develop effective strategies for educating the public about evolution. Huxley’s own scientific articles as well as his popular writings provide numerous examples that could be harnessed not only for the teaching of evolution, but also for understanding science as a process.     

关于社区科普教育与公民科学素质培养的思考

文章通过对我国公民科学素质水平和对社区科普教育活动的分析,探究社区科普教育对培养公民科学素质的意义和作用,并在此基础上提出促进社区科普教育发展的建议和策略,希望能对广大社区科普教育工作者有些许帮助。     

Goethe’s Conception of “Experiment as Mediator” and Implications for Practical Work in School Science

There has been growing criticism over the aims, methods, and contents of practical work in school science, particularly concerning their tendency to oversimplify the scientific practice with focus on the hypothesis-testing function of experiments. In this article, we offer a reading of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s scientific writings—particularly his works on color as an exquisite articulation of his ideas about experimentation—through the lens of practical school science. While avoiding the hasty conclusions made from isolated experiments and observations, Goethe sought in his experiments the interconnection among diverse natural phenomena and rejected the dualistic epistemology about the relation of humans and nature. Based on a close examination of his color theory and its underlying epistemology, we suggest three potential contributions that Goethe’s conception of scientific experimentation can make to practical work in school science.     

Erwin Schrödinger’s Poetry

Many of the major figures in the history of science have produced literary works, but the relationship between their poetic texts and their scientific work is often underestimated. This paper illuminates the poetry of Erwin Schrödinger—one of the premier figures in twentieth-century science, and an accomplished poet in both English and his native German. It discusses existing perceptions of his poetry and challenges the assumptions that his poetic work was a mere hobby unrelated to his other achievements by focusing on the interplay between poetic images and scientific ideas in his German-language poems. It emphasizes that more research is needed on the understated role of bilingualism and of—often marginalized—writing in an adopted language in science and in poetry, with the premise that this feature of Schrödinger’s life deserves more study. It argues that Schrödinger’s literary imagination and his bilingualism are an integral part of his approach to reality and considers Schrödinger’s literary work to be an important aspect of his intellectual heritage.     

Re-envisioning scientific literacy as relational,participatory thinking and doing

This review explores Michelle Hollingsworth Koomen’s “Inclusive science education: Learning from Wizard,” a case study of a middle school student with learning exceptionalities in a mainstream science classroom. The strength of Koomen’s work lies in her elucidation of the ways in which normative science instruction fails to adequately support Wizard’s learning. His classroom experiences position him, if unintentionally, as deficient and incapable, which in turn serves to undermine his ability to fully engage in science or to capitalize on his strengths as a learner in the service of developing disciplinary literacy. I extend this conversation by arguing for a broader view of scientific literacy and the need for a more relational pedagogy in classrooms that supports meaningful and productive engagement in science learning and fosters positive identification with science.     

Rómulo de Carvalho’s Work on the Popularization of Science During Salazarism

This article provides an account of Rómulo de Carvalho’s most prominent works on the popularization of science during the Salazarist regime in Portugal. Carvalho has been praised for his ‘unique’ writing style, for his uncommon ability to communicate scientific knowledge with clarity to a wide audience: he wrote to teachers, to secondary students, to the layman and even to the rural peasantry. Most of his books and articles on popularization explored the History and Philosophy of Science, and it has been claimed that he influenced many youngsters to pursue scientific careers. Given the repressive political context imposed by Salazarism, it is argued that Carvalho’s work on the popularization of science had a humanist and libertarian connotation. However, intriguingly, different from some of his contemporaries who also promoted humanistic education for all, Carvalho was never targeted by the Dictatorship. The article seeks to shed light on this matter. It points out the educational reach of Carvalho’s writings and suggests that popularization of science in repressive regimes is not necessarily a problematic issue as long as it does not threat the status quo.     

Not Just a “Fleck” on the Epistemic Landscape: A Reappraisal of Ludwik Fleck’s Views of the Nature of Scientific Progress and Change in Relation to Contemporary Educational and Social Issues

In contrast to Thomas Kuhn, the work of Ludwik Fleck, a Polish-born physician, microbiologist, and epistemologist, is conspicuously absent from the science education literature. His originally obscure monograph first published in German in 1935, Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact, anticipates a number of views explicated by contemporary philosophers of science, cognitive psychologists, and learning theorists, and Fleck’s main thesis is, is many respects, strikingly similar to the oft-cited thesis developed later by Kuhn in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Fleck’s work is perhaps the best example of the social influence on scientific commitment and thinking and is one of the first works to suggest different scales or varieties of change in science. At the same time as Fleck’s work gains recognition, momentum, and force in philosophical circles, some educators are calling for a critical appraisal of Kuhn’s impact on science education. This climate provides an ideal opportunity to assess (or perhaps in some cases reassess) the value of Fleck’s work in a science education context. The primary aim of this article, therefore, is to introduce educators in general, and science educators in particular, to the main ideas developed by Fleck in his Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact. Throughout this article, Fleck’s ideas are compared and contrasted to those of Thomas Kuhn—arguably one of the most popular referents in nature of science studies over the past decade. As will be discussed, many of the ideas developed by Fleck anticipate central issues and perspectives in philosophy, epistemology, sociology, education, and cognitive psychology.     

论爱因斯坦科学哲学思想的转变

爱因斯坦的科学哲学思想是否有过重大转变,一直存在争议.有人认为爱因斯坦是从经验论者转变成了唯理论者;有人认为不存在这种重大转变.也有学者认为其思想一直存在"多元张力".但是,从逻辑和史实的进一步研究,都说明爱因斯坦的思想有重大转变.在研究科学家的科学哲学思想时,应该把其思想的自我表述和客观实践区别开来.由此得到的启发是,科学家的科学哲学思想对其科学活动的作用是有限的.     

对《逻辑哲学论》科学观的逻辑重构

前期维特根斯坦的哲学是一种语言批判,通过对语言的逻辑进行研究,为可说和不可说的领域划定界限。在逻辑分析的视角下重构他的科学观,能更清楚理解他对科学的定位和评价。他的科学观表现为:(1)哲学与科学既非奠基、也非取消的关系,哲学在科学之外,为科学划定界限;(2)逻辑之知具有先天性和必然性,科学之知具有后天性和偶然性;(3)自然律的形式桥接了逻辑形式和自然律的内容,保证了科学知识中形式和内容的统一。前期维特根斯坦独特的科学观,可以为进一步思考科学的本性、哲学与科学的关系提供重要启示。     

论“道”与“上帝”——老子和爱因斯坦哲学本体论之比较

老子的道和爱因斯坦的上帝分别是他们各自关于世界本质和规律的认识、理解和体验的产物。爱因斯坦的上帝概念相当于老子哲学中的“天之道”概念。老子的道和爱因斯坦的上帝不仅是人们在科学文化研究活动中的思想基础、科学直觉和灵感的源泉,而且是人们从事科学文化活动的世界观、方法论、审美观和价值评价标准。     

论杜威的实验主义对胡适文学批评的影响

胡适以科学为人生观的基础,以科学的态度、精神和方法来对待自己的文学批评活动,用他自己的话说,就是"大胆的假设,小心的求证"。究其原因,乃是杜威的实验主义对胡适产生了深刻的影响。具体而言,杜威的实验主义对胡适的文学批评所产生的影响主要在两个方面:其一,思想独立,敢于质疑文学批评界的定论,并在大胆假设的基础上提出自己的看法;其二,尊重事实,小心求证,孜孜寻求文学活动中的真理。     

Idealisation and Galileo’s Pendulum Discoveries: Historical, Philosophical and Pedagogical Considerations

Galileo’s discovery of the properties of pendulum motion depended on his adoption of the novel methodology of idealisation. Galileo’s laws of pendulum motion could not be accepted until the empiricist methodological constraints placed on science by Aristotle, and by common sense, were overturned. As long as scientific claims were judged by how the world was immediately seen to behave, and as long as mathematics and physics were kept separate, then Galileo’s pendulum claims could not be substantiated; the evidence was against them. Proof of the laws required not just a new science, but a new way of doing science, a new way of handling evidence, a new methodology of science. This was Galileo’s method of idealisatioin. It was the foundation of the Galilean–Newtonian Paradigm which characterised the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century, and the subsequent centuries of modern science. As the pendulum was central to Galileo’s and Newton’s physics, appreciating the role of idealisation in their work is an instructive way to learn about the nature of science.     

Experimental science: Joseph Priestley’s influence in the infrastructure of the seventeenth-century science education

This paper discusses the emergence of science education in the seventeenth century with the influences of Joseph Priestley on the Dissenting Academies. Primarily, this paper analyses Priestley’s ideas from some of his letters to scientists during his time and his ideas from his books Miscellaneous Observations Relating to Education (1778) and the Essay on a Course of Liberal Education for Civil and Active Life (1765). As an expository essay, analysis shows that the inclusion of experimental science education dates back from the Dissenting Academies when they explicitly aligned science education for practical life. With Priestley’s advocacy on experimental learning in science, his idea of hands-on science education encouraged other dissenters to seek and understand the changing natural world. His advocacy states that knowledge and understanding of the natural world builds the foundation for rationally evaluating the developments derived from permissible scientific theories. Not setting aside religious studies, Priestley promoted a radical education which ended the restrictions to the privileged and powerful few so that it opened up the access of learning for everyone whose capacity may range from scientific, religious, political, or educational propensities.     

论农业科普期刊的读者适用性

农业科普期刊肩负着向农民读者传播科技文化知识信息的历史重任.农民读者是具有特殊意义的阅读群体,其阅读特点对农业科普期刊内容提供的读者适用性提出了内在要求.只有在科学性、实用性、政策性、专门性、时效性与地域性、通俗性与趣味性等方面下功夫,其内容才能真正切合农民读者需要,从而优化传播力,发挥其服务“三农”的独特功能     

UNDERSTANDING THE ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTIONS OF PRE-SERVICE SECONDARY SCIENCE TEACHERS ABOUT TIDAL PHENOMENA BASED ON TOULMIN’S ARGUMENTATION

Constructing explanations and participating in argumentative discourse are seen as essential practices of scientific inquiry. The objective of this study was to explore the elements and origins of pre-service secondary science teachers’ alternative conceptions of tidal phenomena based on the elements used in Toulmin’s Argument Model through qualitative research. The data were collected from three pre-service secondary school teachers (D.-K. University, Teachers’ Colleges, junior and senior) in the Republic of Korea using a variety of qualitative research methods. We present three pre-service teachers as examples of 20 pre-service teachers for determining each pre-service teacher whether the pattern of his/her responses to all of the questions investigating a given concept can be explained by the consistent use of components of argument. The results of this study showed “the model with the Earth’s center at rest” backing their warrants as an element of Toulmin’s Argument Model. As a result, science educators must explicitly address these presuppositions or implicit beliefs and must help the students form links between their everyday experiences and scientific knowledge. Therefore, educators must be aware of the influence of students’ presuppositions and must use acceptable scientific concepts (the center of mass of the Earth–Moon system) based on argumentation to guide their construction of scientific concepts.     

Teaching Darwinian Evolution: Learning from Religious Education

This article examines what science education might be able to learn from phenomenological religious education’s attempts to teach classes where students hold a plurality of religious beliefs. Recent statements as to how best to accomplish the central pedagogical concept of ‘learning from religion’ as a vehicle for human transformation are explored, and then used to appraise the historical research into how Charles Darwin’s responses to religious ideas influenced and were influenced by his scientific work. The issues identified as crucial for science educators to be aware of when teaching students Darwinian evolution are then outlined and, finally, suggestions are made to enable individual students to examine how their personal religious beliefs might interact with their growing understanding of Darwin’s evolutionary approach.     

Teaching the Classics: The Origin of Species as a Case Study

Many (including the author) argue that reading the classics in the field should be part of a scientist’s education. However, how you read the classics can be very different depending on whether you read them as a historian or as a practicing scientist. This point will be made by comparing two readings of Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species, and by looking at the use that Stephen Jay Gould made of the history of science in his quest to promote his scientific ideas.     

Wittgenstein,Freud, Dreaming and Education: Psychoanalytic explanation as ‘une façon de parler’

Freud saw the dream as occupying a very important position in his theoretical model. If there were to be problems with his theoretical account of the dream then this would impinge upon proposed therapy and, of course, education as the right balance between the instincts and the institution of culture. Wittgenstein, whilst stating that Freud was interesting and important, raised several issues in relation to psychology/psychoanalysis, and to Freud in particular. Why would Wittgenstein have seen Freud as having some important things to say, even though he was sharply critical of Freud's claims to be scientific? The major issues to be considered in this paper are, in Section 1, the scientific status of Freud's work—was it science or was it more like philosophy than science; the analysis of dreams; rationality, and dreams and madness. Section 2 considers Freud and education, including the indignity of Freud's notion of ‘the talking cure.’ Section 3 considers psychoanalytic explanations not as theory but as a manner of speaking: ‘une façon de parler.’