History, Philosophy and Science Teaching: Some Answers to “How?”

The study of the history and philosophy of science in school science courses is highly recommended. This paper deals with the methodological aspects derived from research in science education and how they have to be taken into account in order to generate effective classroom activities, so that history and philosophy are not relegated to the status of additional rhetoric of conclusions in an extensive curricula. This is illustrated with the analysis of episodes ___ transcribed from videotape records ___ which took place when such activity was introduced into high school physics classes. This analysis has shown that students, when working in cooperative groups over problematic historical episodes, may come to discuss essential features of science. This not only provides a more realistic view of science, but also enhances cognitive and argumentation skills, besides emphasizing the importance of teachers' guidance.     

Report on a Boston University Conference December 7–8, 2012 on How Can the History and Philosophy of Science Contribute to Contemporary US Science Teaching?

This is an editorial report on the outcomes of an international conference sponsored by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) (REESE-1205273) to the School of Education at Boston University and the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University for a conference titled: How Can the History and Philosophy of Science Contribute to Contemporary US Science Teaching? The presentations of the conference speakers and the reports of the working groups are reviewed. Multiple themes emerged for K-16 education from the perspective of the history and philosophy of science. Key ones were that: students need to understand that central to science is argumentation, criticism, and analysis; students should be educated to appreciate science as part of our culture; students should be educated to be science literate; what is meant by the nature of science as discussed in much of the science education literature must be broadened to accommodate a science literacy that includes preparation for socioscientific issues; teaching for science literacy requires the development of new assessment tools; and, it is difficult to change what science teachers do in their classrooms. The principal conclusions drawn by the editors are that: to prepare students to be citizens in a participatory democracy, science education must be embedded in a liberal arts education; science teachers alone cannot be expected to prepare students to be scientifically literate; and, to educate students for scientific literacy will require a new curriculum that is coordinated across the humanities, history/social studies, and science classrooms.     

Reflections on “Science Teaching and the Nature of Science”

Science &; Education -     

Learning in the Discovery Sciences: The History of a “Radical” Conceptual Change,or the Scientific Revolution That Was Not

In this study, I provide a microgenetic-historical account of learning in an informal setting: the conceptual change that occurred while a university-based scientific research laboratory investigated the absorption of light in rod-based photoreceptors of coho salmon, which the “dogma” had suggested to be related to the migration between freshwater and saltwater environments. A morphogenetic, catastrophe theoretic model is proposed and used to structure the account of the conceptual change. The data derive from a 5-year video-based ethnographic study of the laboratory and the fish hatcheries that supplied it with hatchery-raised and wild coho at different developmental stages. Because the scientists collected their data over a 2-year period, slowing down the availability of what they would be saying were their complete data, opportunities arose for studying the conceptual change ethnographically. The study reports difficulties scientists encountered interpreting their data—because they (a) took a dogma-related perspective, (b) had to reconstruct and become familiar with the context from which they had abstracted their specimen, (c) required a biologically relevant rather than mathematically plausible explanation, and (d) exhibited aspect blindness that only disappeared as their familiarity increased.     

Teaching Traditions in Science Teachers’ Practices and the Introduction of National Testing

Our main interest in this article is to explore whether Swedish teachers changed their teaching and assessment practices in relation to the new national tests in science education that were introduced 2009. Data was collected using a web-distributed questionnaire, which was answered by 407 teachers. The concept of teaching traditions is used to capture patterns of what is emphasized by teachers in terms of goals and content in teaching and the design of the questionnaire was based on the concept of curriculum emphases. The results show two distinct groups of focus, which are compared with two traditions within science education: the Academic and the Moral tradition. The main content where teaching has been changed is in making science more applied than before, where applied not only means the application of science knowledge to practical technical issues, but also to moral and political issues.     

The Importance of History and Philosophy of Science in Correcting Distorted Views of ‘Amount of Substance’ and ‘Mole’ Concepts in Chemistry Teaching

The knowledge of historical facts can help teachers and students to correctly appreciate a variety of scientific theories. It is important to be aware of the evolution of the basic concepts, particularly the ones our students find very abstract and therefore difficult to understand. Historical knowledge of chemical concepts will allow us to understand their difficulties and make them easier to teach successfully. In this paper we answer the following research questions: what was the historic and sociologic context in which chemical equivalent, mole and its magnitude amount of substance were introduced to science? How the lack of historic knowledge in science teaching contributes to the presence of distorted views of science and hampers meaningful learning?     

Educational Background,Teaching Experience and Teachers’ Views on the Inclusion of Nature of Science in the Science Curriculum

The aim of this research is to ascertain teachers’ opinions on what elements of nature of science (NOS) and science–technology–society relationships (STS) should be taught in school science. To this end an adapted version of the questionnaire developed by Osborne et al. is used. Our results show that experts consulted by Osborne et al. and Spanish teachers confer similar importance on the provisional, experimental, and predictive nature of scientific knowledge based on some of the procedures used such as the drawing up of hypotheses and the analysis and interpretation of data. We also look into the relationship between the teachers’ views and their educational background. ¹ 1. In this article, Educational Background means the scientific training gained by teachers at university. Results suggest that philosophy teachers are more concerned with the inclusion of NOS and STS topics in science curricula than science teachers, although further studies will be necessary. Some suggestions concerning the university training of science teachers are also discussed.     

Transforming “Ecosystem” from a Scientific Concept into a Teachable Topic: Philosophy and History of Ecology Informs Science Textbook Analysis

This study conducts a textbook analysis in the frame of the following working hypothesis: The transformation of scientific knowledge into school knowledge is expected to reproduce the problems encountered with the scientific knowledge itself or generate additional problems, which may both induce misconceptions in textbook users. Specifically, we describe four epistemological problems associated with how the concept of “ecosystem” is elaborated within ecological science and we examine how each problem is reproduced in the biology textbook utilized by Greek students in the 12th grade and the resulting teacher and student misunderstandings that may occur. Our research demonstrates that the authors of the textbook address these problems by appealing simultaneously to holistic and reductionist ideas. This results in a meaningless and confused depiction of “ecosystem” and may provoke many serious misconceptions on the part of textbook users, for example, that an ecosystem is a system that can be applied to every set of interrelated ecological objects irrespective of the organizational level to which these entities belong or how these entities are related to each other. The implications of these phenomena for science education research are discussed from a perspective that stresses the role of background assumptions in the understanding of declarative knowledge.     

Science,Coloniality, and “the Great Rationality Divide”

This article aims to analyze how science is discursively attached to certain parts of the world and certain “kinds of people,” i.e., how scientific knowledge is culturally connected to the West and to whiteness. In focus is how the power technology of coloniality organizes scientific content in textbooks as well as how science students are met in the classroom. The empirical data consist of Swedish science textbooks. The analysis is guided by three questions: (1) if and how the colonial history of science is described in Swedish textbooks; (2) how history of science is described; (3) how the global South is represented. The analysis focuses on both what is said and what is unsaid, recurrent narratives, and cultural silences. To discuss how coloniality is organizing the idea of science eduation in terms of the science learner, previous studies are considered. The concepts of power/knowledge, epistemic violence, and coloniality are used to analyze how notions of scientific rationality and modernity are deeply entangled with a colonial way of seeing the world. The analysis shows that the colonial legacy of science and technology is not present in the textbooks. More evident is the talk about science as development. I claim that discourses on scientific development block out stories problematizing the violence done in the name of science. Furthermore, drawing on earlier classroom studies, I examine how the power of coloniality organize how students of color are met and taught, e.g., they are seen as in need of moral fostering rather than as scientific literate persons.     

“ Suggestive Books”: the Role of the Writings of Mary Somerville in Science and Gender History

In 1874 the eminent Scottish scientist, James Clerk Maxwell, said of Mary Somerville's On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences that it was one of those “suggestive books” which communicate intelligibly the “guiding ideas” already in the minds of “men of science” and so lead the latter to further discoveries. ^{1 1} Elizabeth Patterson, “ Mary Somerville”, British Journal for the History of Science, IV (1968/1969), p. 322. Mary Somerville's three main publications, all of them updated and reedited a number of times, had a significant impact upon the scientific world of Britain in the nineteenth century. She was seen and, indeed, saw herself, as an expert expositor of science rather than a scientist in her own right. Unusually for a woman, however, she wrote for adults ‐ students and practitioners of science ‐ not children. This paper will explore how influential her scientific writings were in the nineteenth‐century, how and why they came to be written,for whom they were intended and what were the reactions to their publication. This case study will be used as an exemplar of how far, as authors of influential books, women could find a niche in science education or the academic world, or even within the changing cultural construct of “science” itself.

     

Changes in Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Personal Science Teaching Efficacy and Science Teaching Outcome Expectancies: The Influence of Context

This study investigated contextual changes in perceptions of science teaching self-efficacy through pre-, post- and retrospective administrations of the Science Teaching Expectancy Belief Instrument (STEBI-B) among preservice elementary teachers when exposed to a science teaching methods course. Findings revealed that the number of postsecondary science courses completed, and prior school science experiences had a significant main effect on personal science teaching efficacy (PSTE) but not science teaching outcome expectancy (STOE). There was no evidence for significant interaction effects between variables on both efficacy subscales. The implications of this study relate to organization, structure, and dynamics of elementary science teacher preparation.     

The Role of Historical-Philosophical Controversies in Teaching Sciences: The Debate Between Biot and Ampère

This paper evaluates the viability of using controversies in teaching. An educational project has been elaborated in which some historical-philosophical clashes were introduced into the classical syllabus of physics. The historical-philosophical controversy dealt with here, took place between the French physicists Biot and Ampère in the 19th century and referred to distinct interpretations of the Oersted experiment. This controversy was inserted into the syllabus of the 12th grade of a Brazilian secondary school.     

“Finding the Joy in the Unknown”: Implementation of STEAM Teaching Practices in Middle School Science and Math Classrooms

In response to a desire to strengthen the economy, educational settings are emphasizing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) curriculum and programs. Yet, because of the narrow approach to STEM, educational leaders continue to call for a more balanced approach to teaching and learning, which includes the arts, design, and humanities. This desire created space for science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) education, a transdisciplinary approach that focuses on problem-solving. STEAM-based curricula and STEAM-themed schools are appearing all over the globe. This growing national and global attention to STEAM provides an opportunity for teacher education to explore the ways in which teachers implement STEAM practices, examining the successes and challenges, and how teachers are beginning to make sense of this innovative teaching practice. The purpose of this paper is to examine the implementation of STEAM teaching practices in science and math middle school classrooms, in hopes to provide research-based evidence on this emerging topic to guide teacher educators.     

Objects and Objectivity: The Evolution Controversy at the American Museum of Natural History, 1915–1928

For the purpose of this essay, I examine how evolutionary theory was treated and responded to in the American Museum of Natural History’s Hall of the Age of Man during the early 1900s. Specifically, I examine how the curatorial work of the museum’s president, Henry Fairfield Osborn, relied on the purported use of objectivity as a means by which to communicate the validity of evolutionary theory through the objects in his exhibit. But objectivity represented a resource for anti-evolution critics as well. To show this, I likewise examine how the Baptist pastor, John Roach Straton, responded to Osborn’s objects and purported use of objectivity in the Hall of the Age of Man and how he himself attempted to establish a different type of objectivity through pluralistic approaches to theories of origins. Established as a common value, objectivity ceased to be a simple discriminator between scientists and non-scientists within the debate over evolution. While issues over the teaching of evolutionary theory during this period are already well known, I show here that the controversy over evolutionary theory was not only an issue within public schools during the early 1900s, but also within the museum as an institute of public education and how the rhetorical role of objects and space were critical components of argument for both evolutionists and creationists.     

Public Reason and Teaching Science in a Multicultural World: a Comment on Cobern and Loving: “An Essay for Educators…’ in the Light of John Rawls’ Political Philosophy

This is a comment on the article “An Essay for Educators: Epistemological Realism Really is Common Sense” written by Cobern and Loving in Science &; Education. The skillful analysis of the two authors concerning the problematic role of scientism in school science is fully appreciated, as is their diagnosis that it is scientism not universal scientific realism which is the cause of epistemological imperialism. But how should science teachers deal with scientism in the concrete every day situation of the science classroom and in contact with classes and students? John Rawls’ concept of public reason offers three “cardinal strategies” to achieve this aim: proviso, declaration and conjecture. The theoretical framework is provided, the three strategies are described and their relevance is fleshed out in a concrete example.     

Re‐visioning Science “Love and Passion in the Scientific Imagination”: Art and science

The often portrayed media image of the scientist is a rather strange one, grim‐looking scientists, usually male, poised beside incomprehensible instruments. It is little wonder that we encounter the stereotype of the bespectacled scientist; thick black rims, coke bottle lenses, roman sandals, dressed in lab coats, trousers up to their necks. A qualitative study designed to produce a series of visual and oral narratives based on the everyday lived realities of “the contemporary scientist” was undertaken. The study was a participative project in which a research team, including the project leaders Anne Noble and Michelle Lunn, together with research assistants and documentary photography students, worked alongside scientists to produce contemporary and deliberately challenging stories of “the scientist” ¹ 1. Please see acknowledgements for details of the research team and the scientists involved in the project. . In this paper, the most pervasive theme to emerge from the research, the link between art and science, is discussed.     

The Impact of Teachers and Their Science Teaching on Students’ ‘Science Interest’: A four-year study

There is a crisis in school science in Australia and this may be related to insufficient students developing an interest in science. This extended study looked at changes in 14 students’ interest in science as they moved through junior secondary school into Year 10. Although the majority of these students still had an interest in science in Year 10, it had fluctuated for most students from year to year. The presence or absence of simple, but effective, teaching practices, identified by these students, seems to suggest one way to retain or improve situational and, it would appear, in several cases, personal interest.     

The Effects of Scientific Self-efficacy and Cognitive Anxiety on Science Engagement with the “Question-Observation-Doing-Explanation” Model during School Disruption in COVID-19 Pandemic

Game-based learning supported by mobile intelligence technology has promoted the renewal of teaching and learning models. Herein, a model of Question-Observation-Doing-Explanation (QODE) based on smart phones was constructed and applied to science learning during school disruption in COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, from the theoretical perspective of cognitive-affective theory of learning with media, Bandura’s motivation theory and community of inquiry model, self-report measure was used to verify the effect of students’ scientific self-efficacy and cognitive anxiety on science engagement. A total of 357 valid questionnaires were used for structural equation model research. The results indicated that two types of scientific self-efficacy, as indicated by scientific learning ability and scientific learning behavior, were negatively associated with cognitive anxiety. In addition, cognitive anxiety was also negatively correlated to four types of science engagement, as indicated by cognitive engagement, emotional engagement, behavioral engagement, and social engagement through smartphone interactions. These findings provide further evidence for game-based learning promoted by smart phones, contributing to a deeper understanding of the associations between scientific self-efficacy, cognitive anxiety, and science engagement. This study points out that the QODE model is suitable for implementing smart mobile devices to students’ science learning.