A Galilean Approach to the Galileo Affair, 1609–2009

Galileo’s telescopic discoveries of 1609–1612 provided a crucial, although not conclusive, confirmation of the Copernican hypothesis of the earth’s motion. In Galileo’s approach, the Copernican Revolution required that the geokinetic hypothesis be supported not only with new theoretical arguments but also with new observational evidence; that it be not only supported constructively but also critically defended from objections; and that such objections be not only refuted but also appreciated in all their strength. However, Galileo’s defense of Copernicanism triggered a sequence of events that climaxed in 1633, when the Inquisition tried and condemned him as a suspected heretic. In turn, the repercussions of Galileo’s condemnation have been a defining theme of modern Western culture for the last four centuries. In particular, the 20th century witnessed a curious spectacle: rehabilitation efforts by the Catholic Church and anti-Galilean critiques by secular-minded left-leaning social critics. The controversy shows no signs of abating to date, as may be seen from the episode of Pope Benedict XVI’s attitude toward Paul Feyerabend’s critique of Galileo. Nevertheless, I have devised a framework which should pave the way for eventually resolving this controversy, and which is modeled on Galileo’s own approach to the Copernican Revolution.     

Teacher Education for a Pluralist Society: the British case

The article is organised into two sections, dealing with: (1) the notions of ‘Plurality’ and ‘Pluralism’ and (2) the training of teachers for a plural society. In part (I), factors influencing the development of the plural society in Britain are discussed and the dimensions of that society examined. Part (II) outlines the needs of schools in a plural society and recommends a strategy for teacher training.

L'article est organisé en deux parties qui traitent (i) des concepts de ‘Pluralité’ et de ‘Pluralisme’, et (ii) de la formation des enseignants pour une société pluraliste. Dans la première partie (i) il est discuté facteurs qui ont une influence sur le développement de la société pluraliste en Grande‐Bretagne et les caracteristiques de cette société. La deuxième partie (ii) expose les besoins des écoles dans une société pluraliste et recommande une stratégie pour la formation des enseignants.     

‘Education for equality’ and ‘education for life’: examining reading literacy and reading interest in Papua New Guinea primary schools1

Reading literacy and reading interest was examined in four primary schools in Papua New Guinea: in an international, suburban, settlement and village school. In this paper we present a summary of findings located within a local context and examine the implications as viewed through two lenses. From an ‘educational for equality’ perspective, the findings suggest a critical need to re‐evaluate the use of national testing to select children for further education and address the serious shortage of reading books in school libraries. From an ‘education for life’ perspective, the findings indicate a continuing need for community‐based actions together with innovative teacher education programs aimed at developing ways of strengthening the connections between home and school.     

Differential Item Functioning Resulting From The Use of Different Solution Strategies

The present study investigates the degree to which item "bias" techniques can lead to interpretable results when groups are defined in terms of specified differences in the cognitive processes involved in students' problem-solving strategies. A large group of junior high school students who took a test on subtraction of fractions was divided into two subgroups judged by the rule-space model to be using different problem-solving strategies. It was confirmed by use of Mantel-Haenszel (MH) statistics that these subgroups showed different performances on items with different underlying cognitive tasks. We note that, in our case, we are far from faulting items that show differential item functioning (D1F) between two groups defined in terms of different solution strategies. Indeed, they are "desirable" items, as explained in the discussion section     

Using Research Based Assessment Tools in Professional Development in Current Electricity

We present a practical way of adapting and using four research-based assessments for different purposes in an electricity and magnetism course for K-8 science teachers. The course is designed to accomplish conceptual change toward accepted scientific conceptions as well as introducing teachers to materials and activities appropriate for their classrooms. Our data support that using the research-based tests to identify alternative conceptions and discuss test results with teachers is a promising way to use the knowledge of alternative conceptions in professional development. We also identify some mismatches between the research of conceptual change and its use in programs of professional development.

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