There is no need to summarize the features of this simplified model, which describes the manner in which modern science was transmitted to the lands beyond Western Europe. The graph of Fig. 1 and the examples drawn from science in various lands should have made them clear. It may be in order, however, to reiterate that there is nothing about the phases of my model that is cosmically or metaphysically necessary. I am satisfied if my attempt will interest others to go beyond my crude analysis and make a systematic investigation of the diffusion of Western science throughout the world. Such an investigation would include a comparative appraisal of the development of science in different national, cultural, and social settings and would mark the beginnings of truly comparative studies in the history and sociology of science. The present lack of comparative studies in these disciplines can be attributed to the widespread belief that science is strictly an international endeavor. In one sense this is true. As Sir Isaac Newton remarked in his Principia (49), "the descent of stones in Europe and in America" must both be explained by one set of physical laws. Yet, we cannot ignore the peculiar environment in which members of a national group of scientists are trained and carry on their research. While I do not hold with the Nazi theorists that science is a direct reflection of the racial or national spirit (50), neither do I accept Chekhov's dictum (51) that "there is no national science just as there is no national multiplication table. . . ." In emphasizing the international nature of scientific inquiry we have forgotten that science exists in a local social setting. If that setting does not decisively mold the conceptual growth of science, it can at least affect the number and types of individuals who are free to participate in the internal development of science. Perhaps the effect is more profound; only future scholarship can determine the depth of its influence.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/156/3775/611.full.pdf

The Spread of Western Science

Acknowledgements. General Preface J.K. Gilbert, O. de Jong, R. Justi, D.F. Treagust. J.H. van Driel. Foreword D. Gabel. A: Chemistry and Chemical Education. Preface to Section A J.K. Gilbert. 1. The Nature of Chemical Knowledge and Chemical Education S. Erduran, E. Scerri. 2. The History of Chemistry: Potential and Actual Contributions to Chemical Education J.H. Wandersee, P.B. Griffard. 3. Models and Modelling in Chemical Education R. Justi, J.K. Gilbert. 4. Learning Chemistry in a Laboratory Environment M.B. Nakhleh, J. Polles, E. Malina. B: The Curriculum for Chemical Education. Preface to Section B. 5. Chemical Curricula for General Education: Analysis and Elements of a Design W. de Vos, A.M.W. Bulte, A. Pilot. 6. The Roles of Chemistry in Vocational Education D. Corrigan, P. Fensham. 7. Informal Chemical Education S. Stocklmayer, J.K. Gilbert. 8. Context-based Approaches to the Teaching of Chemistry: What are They and What are Their Effects? J. Bennett, J. Holman. C: Teaching and Learning about Chemical Compounds. Preface to Section C D.F. Treagust. 9. The Particulate Nature of Matter: Challenges in Understanding in the Submicroscopic World A.G. Harrison, D.F. Treagust. 10. Bonding K.S. Taber, R.K. Coll. 11. Prblem-Solving in Chemistry G.M. Bodner, J.D. Heron. D: Teaching and Learning about Chemical Change. Preface to Section D R. Justi. 12. The Teaching and Learning of Chemical Equilibrium J.H. van Driel, W. Graber. 13. Teaching and Learning Chemical Kinetics R. Justi. 14. The Teaching and Learning of Electrochemistry O. de Jong, D.F. Treagust. 15. From Chemical Energetics to Chemical Thermodynamics M.J. Goedhart, W. Kaper. E: Developing Teachers and Chemical Education. Preface to Section E O. de Jong. 16. Exploring Chemistry Teacher's Knowledge Base O. de Jong, W.R. Veal, J.H. van Driel. 17. Research and Development for the Future of Chemical Education J.K. Gilbert, O. de Jong, R. Justi, D.F. Treagust, J.H. van Driel. Notes about the Contributors. Index.

Chemical education: towards research-based practice

As the gateway to scientific thinking, an understanding of the scientific method is essential for success and productivity in science. This book is the first synthesis of the practice and the philosophy of the scientific method. It will enable scientists to be better scientists by offering them a deeper understanding of the underpinnings of the scientific method, thereby leading to more productive research and experimentation. It will also give scientists a more accurate perspective on the rationality of the scientific approach and its role in society. Beginning with a discussion of today's 'science wars' and science's presuppositions, the book then explores deductive and inductive logic, probability, statistics, and parsimony, and concludes with an examination of science's powers and limits, and a look at science education. Topics relevant to a variety of disciplines are treated, and clarifying figures, case studies, and chapter summaries enhance the pedagogy. This adeptly executed, comprehensive, yet pragmatic work yields a new synergy suitable for scientists and instructors, and graduate students and advanced undergraduates.

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Scientific method in practice

This paper deals with a number of conceptual and theoretical issues that underlie the proposal to employ narrative explanations in science education: What is narra- tive? What is explanation? and What is narrative explanation? In answering these questions, we develop a framework of narrative elements and characteristics of narrative explanations. Two possible examples of narrative explanation are presented and examined in light of the framework. This examination brings to light various conceptual and empirical questions related to the examples and to the larger issue of the use of examples like them in science instruction. The value of the framework lies partly in its power to point to such questions. The questions can guide a program of theoretical and empirical research into the psycho- logical reality of the narrative form of explanation, the existence of narrative explanations in science, the use of narrative explanations in science teaching, and the nature and extent of the narrative effect upon which proposals for the use of narrative often are justified. C � 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 89:535 - 563, 2005

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Leonard Kollender Nash

Papers

The nature of the natural sciences

Elements of statistical thermodynamics

The atomic-molecular theory

Plants and the atmosphere

Elements of chemical thermodynamics