Showing papers in "Science Education in 2008"

Beyond the scientific method: Model-based inquiry as a new paradigm of preference for school science investigations

Abstract: One hundred years after its conception, the scientific method continues to reinforce a kind of cultural lore about what it means to participate in inquiry As commonly implemented in venues ranging from middle school classrooms to undergraduate laboratories, it emphasizes the testing of predictions rather than ideas, focuses learners on material activity at the expense of deep subject matter understanding, and lacks epistemic framing relevant to the discipline While critiques of the scientific method are not new, its cumulative effects on learners' conceptions of science have not been clearly articulated We discuss these effects using findings from a series of five studies with degree-holding graduates of our educational system who were preparing to enter the teaching profession and apprentice their own young learners into unproblematic images of how science is done We then offer an alternative vision for investigative science—model-based inquiry (MBI)—as a system of activity and discourse that engages learners more deeply with content and embodies five epistemic characteristics of scientific knowledge: that ideas represented in the form of models are testable, revisable, explanatory, conjectural, and generative We represent MBI as an interconnected set of classroom conversations and provide examples of its implementation and its limitations © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc Sci Ed92:941–967, 2008

Assessment of the ways students generate arguments in science education: Current perspectives and recommendations for future directions

Abstract: Theoretical and empirical research on argument and argumentation in science education has intensified over the last two decades. The term “argument” in this review refers to the artifacts that a student or a group of students create when asked to articulate and justify claims or explanations whereas the term “argumentation” refers to the process of constructing these artifacts. The intent of this review is to provide an overview of several analytic frameworks that science educators use to assess and characterize the nature of or quality of scientific arguments in terms of three focal issues: structure, justification, and content. To highlight the foci, affordances, and constraints of these different analytic methods, the review of each framework includes an analysis of a sample argument. The review concludes with a synthesis of the three focal issues and outlines several recommendations for future work. Ultimately, this examination and synthesis of these frameworks in terms of how each conceptualizes argument structure, justification, and content is intended to provide a theoretical foundation for future research on argument in science education. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed92:447–472, 2008

Learning‐goals‐driven design model: Developing curriculum materials that align with national standards and incorporate project‐based pedagogy

Abstract: Reform efforts in science education emphasize the importance of rigorous treatment of science standards and use of innovative pedagogical approaches to make science more meaningful and successful. In this paper, we present a learning-goals-driven design model for developing curriculum materials, which combines national standards and a project-based pedagogical approach. We describe our design model in the context of the Investigating and Questioning our World through Science and Technology (IQWST) project, which is developing a three-year coordinated series of middle grades science curriculum materials. From using this model in the development and enactment of the curriculum, we identified three important characteristics: unpacking national science standards, developing a learning performances approach to specifying learning goals, and aligning learning goals, instructional activities, and assessments. Using a case study of an IQWST unit from initial development through two cycles of enactment, we describe how these three characteristics help guide curriculum design, identify design issues in curriculum enactments, and guide the development of design solutions. The iterative use of the learning-goals-driven design model coupled with the analysis of multiple data sources informed our revision of the curriculum materials, resulting in substantial student learning gains for the targeted science content and scientific inquiry learning goals. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed92:1–32, 2008

Disciplinary Authority and Accountability in Scientific Practice and Learning

Abstract: This article explores the relation between how scientific knowledge is created and the reasoning involved in learning content with understanding. Although an asserted parallel between these underpins reform, little is actually known about this relation. This article offers a model of this relation that draws coherent connections between the science studies literature, which suggests ways of conceiving how scientific knowledge is created; and sociocultural learning theory, which suggests ways of conceiving scientific reasoning. This model highlights a dialectic between construction and critique of claims in both scientific reasoning and practice. A “grasp” of scientific practice as such is instrumental to learning because informational content of scientific knowledge lies not only on the level of facts, but also on the levels of methods and values, and coordinating information across these levels is crucial for understanding. In contrast to prevailing constructivist ideas that highlight student authority to construct knowledge as scientists do, this model emphasizes the importance of knowing how to hold claims accountable. Thus, the ideal vision of students making their own sense of content is superceded by a more defensible ideal vision of students learning how to make scientific sense of content. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed92:404–423, 2008

Recognizing mechanistic reasoning in student scientific inquiry: A framework for discourse analysis developed from philosophy of science

Abstract: Science education reform has long focused on assessing student inquiry, and there has been progress in developing tools specifically with respect to experimentation and argumentation. We suggest the need for attention to another aspect of inquiry, namely mechanistic reasoning. Scientific inquiry focuses largely on understanding causal mechanisms that underlie natural phenomena. We have adapted an account of mechanism from philosophy of science studies in professional science [Machamer, P., Darden, D., & Craver, C. F., (2000). Thinking about mechanisms. Philosophy of Science, 67, 1–25] to develop a framework for discourse analysis that aids in identifying and analyzing students' mechanistic reasoning. We analyze a discussion among first-grade students about falling objects (1) to illustrate the generativity of the framework, (2) to demonstrate that mechanistic reasoning is abundantly present even in these young students, and (3) to show that mechanistic reasoning is episodic in their discourse. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed92:499–525, 2008

Conceptualizations of argumentation from science studies and the learning sciences and their implications for the practices of science education

Abstract: Argumentation has become an increasingly recognized focus for science instruction---as a learning process, as an outcome associated with the appropriation of scientific discourse, and as a window onto the epistemic work of science. Only a small set of theoretical conceptualizations of argumentation have been deployed and investigated in science education, however, while a plethora of conceptualizations have been developed in the interdisciplinary fields associated with science studies and the learning sciences. This paper attempts to review a range of such theoretical conceptualizations of argumentation and discuss the possible implications for the orchestration of science education; the goal being that the science education research community might consider a broader range of argumentation forms and roles in conjunction with the learning of science. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed92:473–493, 2008

Sense of place in the practice and assessment of place-based science teaching

Abstract: We teach earth, ecological, and environmental sciences in and about places imbuedwithmeaningbyhumanexperience.Scientificunderstandingisbutoneofthemany types of meanings that can accrue to a given place. People develop emotional attachments to meaningful places. The sense of place, encompassing the meanings and attachments that places hold for people, has been well characterized in environmental psychology. Its components, place attachment and place meaning, can be measured psychometrically. Place-based science teaching focuses on local and regional environments and synthesizes different ways of knowing them, leveraging the senses of place of students and teachers. Place-based teaching has been advocated for its relevance and potential to attract un- derrepresented groups to science. We posit that sense of place is a measurable learning outcome of place-based science teaching. We developed an Arizona-based, culturally in- clusive, meaning-rich introductory geology course, and used published surveys to assess place attachment and meaning in students who took the course. We observed significant gains in student place attachment and place meaning, indicating that these instruments are generalizable and sensitive enough for use in this context. Sense of place should be en- gaged by teachers of place-based science, and further explored as an assessment measure. C

Seeking historical examples to illustrate key aspects of the nature of science

Abstract: Increasingly widespread agreement exists that the nature of science (NOS) must be an integral element of the K-12 science curriculum with emerging consensus on what specific NOS elements should be the focus of such instruction. In this study reported, eight recent trade books written by NOS experts addressing the nature of science for the general public were examined to locate the historical examples included. These historical vignettes were extracted and analyzed to determine the kinds of examples used and the focus of the science discipline from which the example comes. The analysis has revealed that these authors have collectively provided approximately 80 historical vignettes in fields ranging from astronomy to physics, with some cited repeatedly from one book to another. In addition, the entire set of examples was then linked to important NOS notions providing an instructional resource for use by teachers, textbook writers and curriculum developers.

Exploring Taiwanese high school students' conceptions of and approaches to learning science through a structural equation modeling analysis

Abstract: Previous research has established a close link between students' conceptions of learning and approaches to learning. Until recently, only a few quantitative studies have investigated the relationship between high school students' conceptions of learning science and the approaches they adopt to learning science. This study sought to address this gap in the literature by assessing these possible relationships empirically through the development of two questionnaires: The Conceptions of Learning Science (COLS) questionnaire and the Approaches to Learning Science (ALS) questionnaire. Four hundred and seventy-four Taiwanese high school students were administered the COLS questionnaire and the ALS questionnaire. Results were entered into a structural equation model to elicit structural relations between students' conceptions of and their approaches to learning science. Overall, findings revealed that students holding constructivist conceptions of learning science tended to employ deep approaches to learning science. Conceptions of learning science such as “testing” and “calculate and practice” were also found to have effects on the surface approaches to learning science; the conceptions of learning science as “applying” and “understanding and seeing in a new way” had noticeable effects on deep approaches to learning science. This study employed quantitative methods to confirm further the structural relations existing between conceptions of learning science and the motives and strategies employed in learning science. Implications for implementing the study's findings into the context of the real-world classroom are discussed. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed, 92:191–220, 2008.

‘Grasp of Practice’ as a Reasoning Resource for Inquiry and Nature of Science Understanding

Abstract: This article articulates how a ‘grasp of practice’ serves as a reasoning resource for inquiry and citizenship abilities associated with nature of science (NOS) understanding. Theoretically, this resource is elaborated through an overlapping concern with ‘practice’ in two literatures, science studies and psychology of learning, bringing attention to two key roles in scientific practice, Critiquers and Constructors of claims. Empirically, this resource is made plausible by the results of an expert-novice study and a classroom study. In the expert-novice study, reactions of scientists and laypeople to science-related claims in the popular media were contrasted, underlining the appropriate ways scientists tend to Critique such claims. In the classroom study, sixth-grade students engaged in a 2-week ramp experiment, experiencing first hand the roles of Critiquers and Constructors of claims, and were subsequently assessed with a novel experimental task. Performances suggest that students had attained a grasp of practice, going well beyond mere execution of methods or procedures. These results challenge a common assumption that declarative knowledge best characterizes learning targets for supporting inquiry and NOS understanding.

Examining the cognitive processes used by adolescent girls and women scientists in identifying science role models: A feminist approach

Abstract: Women remain underrepresented in science professions. Studies have shown that students are more likely to select careers when they can identify a role model in that career path. Further research has shown that the success of this strategy is enhanced by the use of gender-matched role models. While prior work provides insights into the value of using role models, it does not explain the cognitive process involved in girls identifying role models from nontraditional careers for women. This feminist study addresses this gap by examining the cognitive process eighth-grade girls use in identifying a person as a science role model and comparing it to the process used by women scientists seeking to serve as possible science role models. Data revealed that the girls' process in identifying a role model involved personal connections and their initial image of a scientist led them to believe they could not have such a connection with a scientist. The initial views expressed by the women suggested they felt pressure to portray “perfect“ scientists in order to be a role model. A common understanding of a science role model was realized only after changes occurred in the girls' image of scientists and the scientists' image of a role model. The catalysts for these changes were the relationships that developed between girls and women scientists. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed92:688–707, 2008

Double Talk: Synthesizing Everyday and Science Language in the Classroom.

Abstract: This research project explores the language practices that emerged as a teacher taught a lesson designed to promote science literacy development for traditionally underrepresented students. This ethnographic study of a Detroit, Michigan, school examined the teacher's use of science language and its influence on students' use of science language. Using sociolinguistic discourse analysis, two modes of classroom language were identified. First, the teacher used a hybrid method of language involving her explaining science ideas by using vernacular and scientific language. This parenthetical type of speech, which we describe as “double talk,” was also found in students. Second, students appropriated this same strategy for using science language in which they produced vernacular and scientific descriptions during explanations. The findings of this study are significant in their contribution to contemporary research about teaching and learning for minority students. These results implicate the need to teach science explicitly as a second language in urban classrooms. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed92:708–732, 2008

Promoting Issues-based STSE Perspectives in Science Teacher Education: Problems of Identity and Ideology

Abstract: Although science, technology, society and environment (STSE) education has gained considerable force in the past few years, it has made fewer strides in practice. We suggest that science teacher identity plays a role in the adoption of STSE perspectives. Simply put, issues-based STSE education challenges traditional images of a science teacher and sci- ence instructional ideologies. In this paper, we briefly describe the development of a multi- media documentary depicting issues-based STSE education in a teacher's class and its subsequent implementation with 64 secondary student-teachers at a large Canadian univer- sity. Specifically, we set out to explore: (1) science teacher candidates' responses to a case of issues-based STSE teaching, and (2) how science teacher identity intersects with the adoption of STSE perspectives. Findings reveal that although teacher candidates expressed confidence and motivation regarding teaching STSE, they also indicated decreased likelihood to teach these perspectives in their early years of teaching. Particular tensions or problems of practice consistently emerged that helped explain this paradox - including issues related to: control and autonomy; support and belonging; expertise and negotiating curriculum; politicization and action; and biases and ideological bents. We conclude our paper with a discussion regarding the lessons learned about STSE education, teacher identity and the role of multimedia case methods.

Learning science through inquiry in kindergarten

Abstract: This paper examines the nature of kindergarten students' science learning from an inquiry unit in which they investigated the life cycle of the monarch butterfly. The unit was implemented in a public school serving a socioeconomically, ethnically, and linguistically diverse student population. The paper provides descriptive data on children's science learning from their investigations. The descriptive data were collected during the implementation of the inquiry unit using an electronic portfolio system. A second set of data on science learning was collected using an objective, researcher-designed instrument called the Science Learning Assessment (SLA). These data were collected from children in the intervention who completed the inquiry unit and from a comparison group of kindergarten students that was similar in demographic characteristics but did not receive systematic science instruction. The comparison group provides baseline data about kindergarten students' science concepts in the absence of targeted science instruction. There were 100 participants (65 intervention and 35 comparison students). Results indicate that intervention students demonstrated a functional understanding of scientific inquiry processes and of important life science concepts during their investigations. Statistical analyses of SLA data indicate that the intervention group showed significantly better understanding of scientific inquiry processes than the comparison group. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed92:868–908, 2008

The influence of prior knowledge on viewing and interpreting graphics with macroscopic and molecular representations

Abstract: Previous research has indicated that the use of multiple representations with macroscopic and molecular features can improve conceptual understanding; however, the influence of prior knowledge of the domain cannot be overlooked. Using eye-tracking technology and sequential analysis, this study investigated how high school students (n = 54) with different levels of prior knowledge transitioned among the macroscopic and molecular representations of the selected cell transport graphics. The results indicated that high prior knowledge students transitioned more frequently between the molecular representations, whereas low prior knowledge students transitioned more frequently between the macroscopic representations. These findings suggest that students with high prior knowledge distributed their visual attention on conceptually relevant features, whereas low prior knowledge students focused on surface features. In addition, low prior knowledge students transitioned more frequently between macroscopic and molecular representations, suggesting that these students were experiencing more difficulty as they were coordinating the representations. Because these students were using surface features to create linkages between the representations, they were unable to understand the underlying themes. More research on the differences in the distribution of visual attention among learners can provide further insight as to the difficulties low prior knowledge students face when interpreting multiple representations. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed92:848–867, 2008

Urban primary‐grade children think and talk science: Curricular and instructional practices that nurture participation and argumentation

Abstract: We focus on the concept of matter and explore how young children in urban schools bridge their spontaneous concepts and everyday experiences with scientific concepts introduced to them by children's literature information books and their teacher. The study shows how material artifacts used in a sorting activity became ideational tools—semiotic devices that promoted children's engagement with science and shaped the classroom discourse, thinking, and transactions. “Ambiguous” objects, such as a baggie with air, shaving cream, a baggie of salt that children were asked to sort, encouraged them to debate ideas about states of matter. Children used four ways of reasoning about states of matter: macroscopic properties, prototypes, everyday functions, and process of elimination. Furthermore, children's meaning making was intertwined with various socio-organizational aspects of inquiry—the ways in which children negotiated their roles within their group and in whole-class sessions, how they worked with each other, how their ideas were heard by others. We discuss how curricular and instructional approaches that do not lead children to one specific answer or way of thinking become catalysts for the creation of discursive spaces, where children and teacher engage in meaning making in the midst of ambiguity and confusion. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci. Ed92:65–95, 2008

Students’ intuitive explanations of the causes of homologies and adaptations

Abstract: This paper reports data from a study aiming to explore secondary students’ preconceptions and explanations about evolutionary processes. Students may exhibit both alternative and scientifically acceptable conceptions and bring different ones into play in response to different problem contexts. Hence, the examination of their explanations before instruction within different problem contexts is expected to highlight the concepts that instruction should put more emphasis on. To achieve this, an open-ended questionnaire in conjunction with semi-structured interviews was used to allow students to express their own views on issues related to evolution. Students’ explanations highlighted their lack of knowledge of important evolutionary concepts such as common descent and natural selection. In addition, many students explained the origin of traits as the result of evolution through need via purposeful change or as carefully designed adaptations. Rather than evolutionary, final causes formed the basis for the majority of students’ explanations. In many cases students provided different explanations for the same process to tasks with different content. It seems that the structure and the content of the task may have an effect on the explanations that students provide. Implications for evolution education are discussed and a minimal explanatory framework for evolution is suggested.

Sociocultural influences on science education: Innovation for contemporary times

Abstract: This paper reviews the significant sociocultural literatures on science studies, cultural diversity, and sustainability science to develop theoretical perspectives for science education more suitable to the challenges of contemporaneity. While the influences of science studies and cultural diversity are not uncommon within the science education literature on innovation, the difference here is the inclusion of the newer field of sustainability science. These threads are drawn are together to help formulate a view of science education that contributes to the ongoing discussion of what it could be in the 21st century. Finally, a science unit in a preservice teacher education course is then described, which aims to engage, inform, and empower beginning teachers in ways that tackle the challenges of contemporaneity. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed92:165–181, 2008

From Peripheral to Central, the Story of Melanie's Metamorphosis in an Urban Middle School Science Class.

Abstract: Identity formation is a critical dimension of how and why students engage in science to varying degrees. In this paper, we use the lens of identity formation, and in particular identities in practice, to make sense of how and why Melanie, over the course of sixth grade, transformed from a marginalized member of the science class with a failing grade to a highly valued member of the sixth-grade science community with a perfect score of a 100% for the sixth-grade exit project. Our findings reveal that the different figured worlds of the science classroom, such as whole class, small group work, and individual work, offered Melanie different affordances for identity formation that were built upon across such spaces, in both productive and unproductive ways. Our findings also take up the kinds of critical roles that members of her classroom community, in particular teacher and peers, play in supporting and constraining such a transformation. We discuss the implications identity formation has for understanding issues of gender equity and science learning.

Change in teachers' knowledge of subject matter: A 17‐year longitudinal study

Abstract: This longitudinal study explored change in teachers' knowledge of subjects they teach from preservice training through 17 years of professional experience. It followed secondary school science teachers in Australia, through sequences of individual interviews in which change in content knowledge (mainly energy-related) was probed primarily via concept profiles—a word-association method. Change was found to be multifaceted, with details of unused content fading from memory, alongside growth that results from improved understanding and reorganization of structure more than from accretion of new material. Across personal and professional life tracks that produce variation between individuals, development is facilitated by “critical mass” of teachers' knowledge and interest in their chosen disciplines of study and certification, whereas deficiencies tend to persist in the other subjects they are asked to teach. The required curriculum is the single most powerful determinant of teacher knowledge, serving as both its organizer and source. Based on the study, a three-phase model of teacher content-knowledge development is proposed, and the discussion highlights the need for career-long support for growth, even in teachers' major subjects where expertise is taken for granted. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed92:221–251, 2008

An Epistemological Approach to Modeling: Cases Studies and Implications for Science Teaching

Abstract: Models and modeling are a major issue in science studies and in science education. In addressing such an issue, we first propose an epistemological discussion based on the works of Cartwright (1983, 1999), Fleck (1935/1979), and Hacking (1983). This leads us to emphasize the transitions between the abstract and the concrete in the modeling process, by using the notions of nomogical machine (Cartwright, 1999), language game (Wittgenstein, 1953/1997), and thought style (Fleck, 1935/1979). Then, in the light of our epistemological approach, we study four cases coming from the implementations of research-based design activities (SESAMES, 2007). These four case studies illustrate how students are engaged in constructing relations between the abstract and the concrete through modeling activities, by elaborating at the same time specific language games and appropriate thought styles. Finally, we draw some implications for science teaching. It is suggested that considering didactic nomological machines as embedding knowledge on the one hand, and classes as thought collectives, on the other hand, may relevantly contribute to science education and science education research. C

Helping Elementary Preservice Teachers Learn to Use Curriculum Materials for Effective Science Teaching

Abstract: Curriculum analysis, modification, and enactment are core components of teacher practice. Beginning teachers rely heavily on curriculum materials that are often of poor quality to guide their practice. As a result, we argue that preservice teachers need to learn how to use curriculum materials for effective teaching. To address this concern, the authors conducted a study in which three teacher educators taught elementary science methods courses incorporating a major focus on curriculum analysis and modification based on Project 2061 Instructional Analysis Criteria. Analysis of pre–post assessments, classroom artifacts, classroom dialogue, and postcourse interviews indicated that preservice teachers accurately applied and appropriated a modest set of criteria whose intended meanings most closely matched their own understandings, were most closely aligned with their own goals and criteria, or were made accessible through systematic use and attention within the methods sections. However, many did not find the materials analysis criteria useful or comprehensible and based their curricular decisions on their own criteria. Furthermore, some preservice teachers resisted engaging in these practices that may have seemed too analytical, inauthentic, and destabilizing. These findings pointed us toward a revised theoretical framework and new approaches to better support preservice teachers' effective participation with curriculum materials. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed92:345–377, 2008

Describing and Analyzing Learning in Action: An Empirical Study of the Importance of Misconceptions in Learning Science.

Abstract: Although misconceptions in science have been established in interview studies, their role during the learning process is poorly examined. In this paper we use results from a classroom study to anal ...

Making students' thinking explicit in writing and discussion: An analysis of formative assessment prompts

Abstract: The National Research Council ([NRC], 2001) has stated that formative assessment is essential to fulfilling the mission of the National Science Education Standards (NRC, 1996). This paper explores the relative utility of four different types of formative assessment prompts in eliciting middle school students' ideas about sinking and floating. Students' written responses and statements in classroom discussions around each of the prompts are compared. Results indicate that the relative success of the prompts in eliciting a range of conceptions may depend on the openness and familiarity of the prompts. Prompts with fewer constraints and unfamiliar settings elicited a range of student conceptions in writing; however, discussions surrounding the prompts were more likely to elicit ideas at the expected level, or no student ideas at all. A comparison of the prompts revealed that the diversity of students' responses in writing was not reflected in classroom discussions. The study suggests that open-format formative assessment prompts may function better when used as a basis for teachers to elicit a range of student ideas in writing, whereas constrained-outcome space prompts may be more appropriate for whole-class conversations that focus students upon scientifically appropriate responses. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed92:799–824, 2008

Students’ positions and considerations of scientific evidence about a controversial socioscientific issue

Abstract: Efforts have been devoted to introduce in science curricula direct instruction for evaluating scientific reports on socioscientific issues. In this study, students’ opinions on the SSI of mobile telephones effects have been investigated before and after a classroom activity designed to enable students to assess scientific data. Aspects of the nature of science raised by students interpreting available contradictory research evidence and making personal decision on this SSI have also been documented. Results indicated the central role of considerations of scientific evidence in students’ decision making. Students tended to over-attribute significance to empirical processes in justifying viewpoints on the SSI of mobile phones and in suggesting how scientific disputes might be resolved.

Positionality of African Americans and a theoretical accommodation of it: Rethinking science education research

Abstract: This essay addresses a call for research involving African Americans to interpret data from the historical, contemporary, and cultural experiences of African Americans. The essay argues for a science education research approach that explicitly considers the positionality of African Americans in the United States. This positionality involves the negotiation of three distinct and conflicting realms of experience that pertain to oppression, African-rooted Black culture, and the dominant culture in the United States. The theoretical tool proposed in this essay accommodates the positionality of African Americans by superimposing it upon a model that synthesizes the ideas of Michael Cole (cultural-historical activity theory) and Urie Bronfenbrenner (ecology of human development). © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed92:1127–1144, 2008

Towards a Curricular Model of the Nature of Science

Abstract: The nature of science is a complex theme, and continues to be the subject of advanced and ongoing scholarship, drawing upon a range of disciplines. Therefore, whatever is presented in school science as being ‘the’ nature of science must at best be a simplification, and so there is a need to form judgements about which simplifications are most appropriate. Effective ‘curricular models’ of science concepts are designed simplifications of scientific models that guide teachers by indicating target knowledge that is deemed appropriate in terms of the prior learning and conceptual development of a group of learners, and which is both ‘intellectually honest’ and a suitable basis for further learning. A similar approach can guide teaching about the nature of science. A consideration of the English National Curriculum offers an example of how aims relating to the teaching of the nature of science may not be realised in the absence of a suitable explicit curricular model to guide teaching.

Evolution as a Controversial Issue: A Review of Instructional Approaches.

Abstract: Although evolution has long been considered a controversial issue, little effort has been made to ensure that instructional approaches address the controversial nature of the issue. A framework for understanding the nature of controversy and some defining characteristics of controversial issues are provided. In light of this framework evolution is evaluated to address the defining characteristics of the issue that make it controversial. The purpose of this exploratory review of evolution instruction is to identify a range of instructional approaches reported in extant literature and to determine the extent to which each approach is commensurate with teaching evolution as a controversial issue.