While the study of psychology has offered little in the way of explaining the creative process, Koestler examines the idea that we are at our most creative when rational thought is suspended--for example, in dreams and trancelike states. All who read The Act of Creation will find it a compelling and illuminating book.

The Act of Creation

Scientific Research in Education

Researchers, historians, and philosophers of science have debated the nature of scientific research in education for more than 100 years. Recent enthusiasm for "evidence-based" policy and practice in educationa "now codified in the federal law that authorizes the bulk of elementary and secondary education programsa "have brought a new sense of urgency to understanding the ways in which the basic tenets of science manifest in the study of teaching, learning, and schooling. Scientific Research in Education describes the similarities and differences between scientific inquiry in education and scientific inquiry in other fields and disciplines and provides a number of examples to illustrate these ideas. Its main argument is that all scientific endeavors share a common set of principles, and that each fielda "including education researcha "develops a specialization that accounts for the particulars of what is being studied. The book also provides suggestions for how the federal government can best support high-quality scientific research in education.

The Science Question in Feminism

Recent arguments in science education have proposed that school science should pay more attention to teaching the nature of science and its social practices. However, unlike the content of science, for which there is well-established consensus, there would appear to be much less unanimity within the academic community about which ideas-about-science are essential elements that should be included in the contemporary school science curriculum. Hence, this study sought to determine empirically the extent of any consensus using a three stage Delphi questionnaire with 23 participants drawn from the communities of leading and acknowledged international experts of science educators; scientists; historians, philosophers, and sociologists of science; experts engaged in work to improve the public understanding of science; and expert science teachers. The outcome of the research was a set of nine themes encapsulating key ideas about the nature of science for which there was consensus and which were considered to be an essential component of school science curriculum. Together with extensive comments provided by the participants, these data give some measure of the existing level of agreement in the community engaged in science education and science communication about the salient features of a vulgarized account of the nature of science. Although some of the themes are already a feature of existing school science curricula, many others are not. The findings of this research, therefore, challenge (a) whether the picture of science represented in the school science curriculum is sufficiently comprehensive, and (b) whether there balance in the curriculum between teaching about the content of science and the nature of science is appropriate.

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What “ideas‐about‐science” should be taught in school science? A Delphi study of the expert community

Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and Its Quarrels with Science

"Evidence of a flight from reason is as old as human record-keeping: the 'fact' of it certainly goes back an even longer way. Flight from science specifically, among the forms of rational inquiry, goes back as far as science itself...But rejection of reason is now a pattern to be found in most branches of scholarship and in all the learned professions."--from the introduction In the widely acclaimed 'Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and Its Quarrels with Science,' Paul R. Gross and Norman Levitt offered a spirited response to the "science bashers", raising serious questions about the growing criticism of scientific practice from humanists and social scientists on the academic left. Now, in 'The Flight from Science and Reason,' Gross and Levitt are joined by Martin W. Lewis to bring together a diverse and distinguished group of scholars, scientists, and experts to engage these questions from a wide variety of perspectives. The authors take on critics of science whose views range from moderate to extreme, from social constructivists to deconstructionists, from creationists and feminists to Afro-centrists. They discuss the rise of "alternative medicine" and radical environmentalism (here skewered as "ecosentimentalism"). They explain why the "uncertainty principle" does not work as a metaphor for ambiguity, and why "chaos theory" cannot be invoked without an understanding of mathematics. Throughout, they grapple with the paradox inherent in arguing with opponents who contend that reason itself, and thus logic, is suspect. 'Distributed for the New York Academy of Sciences'

The flight from science and reason

INTRODUCTION 1. How the Wedge Began 2. The Wedge Document: A Design for Design 3. Searching for Science 4. Paleontology Lite and Copernican Discoveries 5. A Conspiracy Hunter and a Newton 6. Everything Except Science I 7. Everything Except Science II 8. Wedging Into Power Politics 9. Religion First - and Last

Paul R. Gross

Papers

Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and Its Quarrels with Science

The flight from science and reason

Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design

Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and Its Quarrels with Science

Creationism's Trojan Horse