Showing papers on "Science communication published in 1998"

International handbook of science education

Abstract: Section 1: Learning. Editors: R. Duit, D.F. Treagust. 1.1. Learning in Science: From Behaviourism Towards Social Constructivism and Beyond R. Duit, D.F. Treagust. 1.2. New Perspectives on Language in Science C. Sutton. 1.3. Cultural Aspects of Learning Science W.W. Cobern, G.S. Aikenhead. 1.4. Learning Science Through Models and Modelling J.K. Gilbert, C.J. Boulter. 1.5. Learning About Science Teaching: Perspectives From an Action Research Project P.H. Scott, R.H. Driver. 1.6. Scientific Inquiry Within Reach of Young Children K.E. Metz. 1.7. Theories of Knowledge Acquisition C.A. Chinn, W.F. Brewer. 1.8. The Epistemology of Students: The 'Thingified' Nature of Scientific Knowledge J. Desautels, M. Larochelle. Section 2: Teaching. Editor: K. Tobin. 2.1. Issues and Trends in the Teaching of Science K. Tobin. 2.2. A View of Quality in Teaching J.R. Baird. 2.3. Teaching and Learning as Everyday Activity W.-M. Roth. 2.4. Teaching for Understanding in Pre-Secondary Science W. Harlen. 2.5. Teaching for Conceptual Change P.W. Hewson, et al. 2.6. The Role of Routine Problem Tasks in Science Teaching P. Hobden. 2.7. The Complexity of Chemistry and Implications for Teaching D. Gabel. 2.8. The School Science Laboratory: Historical Perspectives and Contexts for Contemporary Teaching V.N. Lunetta. Section 3: Educational Technology. Editor: M.C. Linn. 3.1. The Impact of Technology on Science Instruction: HistoricalTrends and Current Opportunities M.C. Linn. 3.2. Computer Microworlds and Scientific Inquiry: An Alternative Approach to Science Education B.Y. White. 3.3. Realising Authentic Science Learning through the Adaptation of Scientific Practice D.C. Edelson. 3.4. Can Technology Bring Students Closer to Science? N. Butler Songer. 3.5. Problem-Based Macro Contexts in Science Instruction: Design Issues and Applications R.D. Sherwood, et al. 3.6. Using Technology to Support Students' Artefact Construction in Science M. Wisnudel Spitulnik, et al. 3.7. Integration of Experimenting and Modelling by Advanced Educational Technology: Examples from Nuclear Physics H.P. Schecker. 3.8. Where You Want IT, When You Want IT: The Role of Portable Computers in Science Education A.E. McFarlane, Y. Friedler. Section 4: Curriculum. Editor: J. van den Akker. 4.1. The Science Curriculum: Between Ideals and Outcomes J. van den Akker. 4.2. Cooperative Learning in the Science Curriculum R. Lazarowitz, R. Hertz-Lazarowitz. 4.3. Curriculum Change in Science: Riding the Waves of Reform J. Wallace, W. Louden. 4.4. Science Curriculum: Transforming Goals to Practices R.W. Bybee, N. Ben-Zvi. 4.5. Integrated Science and Mathematics Education: Evolution and Implications of a Theoretical Model D.F. Berlin, A.L. White. 4.6. The Learning Cycle Approach as a Strategy for Instruction in Science M.R. Abraham. Section 5: Learning Environments. Editor: B. Fraser. 5.1. Science Learning Environments: Assessment, Effects and D

The nature of science in science education : rationales and strategies

Abstract: Foreword and Introduction M. Matthews. I: Rationales for the Nature of Science in Science Instruction. 1. The Role and Character of the Nature of Science in Science Education W.F. McComas, et al. 2. The Nature of Science in International Science Education Standards Documents W.F. McComas, J.K. Olson. 3. The Principal Elements of the Nature of Science: Dispelling the Myths W.F. McComas. 3. The Principal Elements of the Nature of Science: Dispelling the Myths W.F. McComas. II: Communicating the Nature of Science Plans, Approaches and Strategies. 4. The Card Exchange: Introducing the Philosophy of Science W.W. Cobern, C.C. Loving. 5. Avoiding De-Natured Science: Activities that Promote Understandings of the Nature of Science N. Lederman, F. Abd-El-Khalick. 6. Confronting Students' Conceptions of the Nature of Science with Cooperative Controversy P.L. Hammerich. 7. Nature of Science Activities Using the Scientific Theory Profile: From the Hawking-Gould Dichotomy to a Philosophical Checklist C.C. Loving. 8. Learning by Designing: A Case of Heuristic Theory Development in Science Teaching F. Jansen, P. Voogt. 9. Using Historical Case Studies in Biology to Explore the Nature of Science: A Professional Development Program for High School Teachers K.R. Dawkins, A.A. Glatthorn. 10. A History of Science Approach to the Nature of Science: Learning Science by Rediscovering It N. Kipnis. 11. Integrating the Nature of Science with Student Teaching: Rationales and Strategies M.P. Clough. III: Communicating the Nature of Science Courses and Course Elements. 12. A Thematic Introduction to the Nature of Science for Science Educators W.F. McComas. 13. The Nature of Science: Achieving Science Literacy by Doing Science J.O. Matson, S. Parsons. 14. Elementary Science Methods: Developing and Measuring Student Views about the Nature of Science Y. Meichtry. 15. Nature of Science: Implications for Education: An Undergraduate Course for Prospective Teachers K. Sullenger, S. Turner. 16. The Use of Real and Imaginary Cases in Communicating the Nature of Science: A Course Outline D. Boersema. 17. Teaching the Nature of Science as an Element of Science, Technology and Society B. Spector, et al. 18. Of Starting Points and Destinations: Teacher Education and the Nature of Science M.L. Bentley, S.C. Fleury. 19. A Programme for Developing Understanding of the Nature of Science in Science Teacher Education M. Nott, J. Wellington. 20. The Nature of Science as a Foundation for Teaching Science: Evolution as a Case Study C.E. Nelson, et al. IV: Assessing Nature of Science Understanding. 21. Assessing Understanding of the Nature of Science: A Historical Perspective N. Lederman, et al. Notes on Contributors. Index.

Science In Public: Communication, Culture, And Credibility

Abstract: Is an understanding of science important, and what are the issues involved in communicating it? Science in Public uniquely draws together the broad range of theory and practice of public understanding of science. In order to address these and other questions that face today's technological society, this book examines the history of communicating science from the eighteenth century through Michael Faraday and Thomas Huxley, and on to the present day. Detailed contemporary case studies offer insights into the communication and understanding of science. In Science in Public the ideas of sociologists and communications researchers rub shoulders with the expectations of politicians and the hopes of educators. The public is here, and so is science, in both their idealized and real-world guises. The book's scope is broad, as is the subject.

The Nature of Science in Science Education: An Introduction

Abstract: After providing a definition of the nature of science (NOS) for science education, we argue that a pragmatic consensus exists regarding NOS topics most important for a scientifically literate society. Hence, NOS instruction should take a more prominent role in the science curriculum. While the relationship between a teacher's NOS knowledge and their pedagogical decision-making is not straight- forward, we maintain that a complex interplay does exist. While more science coursework and research experience have been suggested to improve science teachers' understanding of NOS, neither approach is empirically supported. However, explicit attempts at NOS instruction in science teacher education have been effective. This article, which is an abridged version of one appearing in McComas (1998), concludes with the suggestion of a desired state for NOS instruction. Hence, it is vital that science teachers and their students gain an understanding of the nature of science, a hybrid field blending aspects of various social studies of science such as the history, sociology and philosophy of science with research from the cognitive science into a rich and useful description of what science is and how it functions.

Science and the media : alternative routes in scientific communication

Abstract: 1. Introduction 1.1 The canonical account 1.2 The social representation of scientific theories 1.3 A communication continuum 1.4 Cognitive trajectories and their obstacles 1.5 The popular stage and its implications 2. When Scientists turn to the public 2.1 When scientists turn to the public 2.2 Metaphors, paradoxes and boundary objects in public communication of science 2.3 Metaphors in science 2.4 Constitutive and popular metaphors 2.5 Metaphors and paradoxes 2.6 Paradox in science 2.7 Boundary objects 3. Case studies 3.0 Preliminary remarks 3.1 Making and unmaking science in public: The Cold Fusion case 3.1.1 Not just 'hyped' science 3.1.2 Signs of (con) fusion 3.1.3 Cold fusion and public communication 3.1.4 Cold fusion and the Italian daily press 3.1.5 In and out of the public level 3.1.6 The ways of deconstruction Appendix A Appendix B Illustrations 3.2 A public explosion: Big Bang Theory in the UK daily press 3.2.1 A public explosion 3.2.2 A brief history of the universe 3.2.3 COBE takes off 3.2.4 More than a Big Bang 3.2.5 Big Bang and the public 3.2.6 Crisis, what crisis? 3.2.7 Big Bang as a boundary object 3.3 The public science of Louis Pasteur: The public experiment on anthrax in the popular press of the time 3.3.1 Prologue: A short story of the Pouilly-le-Fort trial 3.3.2 A celebrated experiment 3.3.3 The law of similars 3.3.4 On animals, for animals 3.3.5 The medical congress 3.3.6 Homeopathy and vivesection 3.3.7 The vaccination debate 3.3.8 The uses of a public experiment 4. Lines and tensions 4.1 Deviation as an exposure of the backstage 4.2 Public communication and boundary configurations 4.3 Mapping deviation 4.4 The second axis References

Paradigms and problems: The practice of social science in natural resource management

Abstract: Increasingly, natural resource management is seeing calls for new paradigms. These calls pose challenges that have implications not only for planning and management, but also for the practice of science. As a consequence, the profession needs to deepen its understanding of the nature of science by exploring recent advances in the philosophy of science. We believe that one of the problems inhibiting a better understanding of science is a strongly ingrained belief that science is about methodology. This perspective is reflected in Hetherington, Daniel, and Brown's (1994) recent criticism of Bengston's (1994) methodological pluralism. To initiate discussions that may help bring about a reconsideration of the nature of science, we offer a two‐part definition of science. The first portrays science as a systematic endeavor that shares a common process without mandating a common methodology. The second part is an attempt to highlight and promote an exploration of the normative structure that underlies science.

Science fiction: the continuing misrepresentation of science in the school curriculum

Abstract: Despite the recent outpouring of writing on the history, philosophy and sociology of science, and its significance for science education, the school science curriculum continues to promote some grossly distorted views of science and scientists. Ten common myths are identified, seven of which are discussed in detail. The article concludes with a plea for teachers to present a more authentic view of science and a more appealing image of scientists as one step towards attracting a wider range of students to science.

Sociology of science as a means to a more authentic, inclusive science education

Abstract: In this article, we argue that insights from scholarship in the sociology of science can provide a powerful basis for making science education more authentic and inclusive. Drawing on recent work in the sociology of science, we describe how adopting sociological ideas as integral components of science curricula and instruction can provide opportunities for students that a traditional approach cannot. We focus on three insights from sociology—social networking, peer review, and skepticism—to demonstrate how sociological understandings can inform and improve the content, structure, and pedagogy of science classrooms. We argue that shifts in the balance of power and authority that result from explicit attention to these aspects of the nature of science offer a more authentic science education for all. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 35: 483–499, 1998.

Between citizen and consumer: multiplying the meanings of the “public understanding of science”

Abstract: This paper explores how the “public understanding of science” might be reconceptualized in light of the recent sociological treatments of consumption. I consider the implications that the rise of consumer culture and the increasing aesthetisization of everyday life have for micro-and macro-sociological studies in the public understanding of science. In particular, I examine how consumer culture impacts upon the status of the “lay local” and the nature of citizenship as they relate to the public understanding of science and scientific literacy. Further, I explore how the discourses and techniques of public understanding of science studies might contribute to the formulation of the lay person as consumer. Finally; in light of these points, I formulate a number of research questions that might enable the development of the “public understanding of science.”

Just before Nature: The purposes of science and the purposes of popularization in some english popular science journals of the 1860s.

Abstract: Summary Popular science journalism flourished in the 1860s in England, with many new journals being projected. The time was ripe, Victorian men of science believed, for an ‘organ of science’ to provide a means of communication between specialties, and between men of science and the public. New formats were tried as new purposes emerged. Popular science journalism became less recreational and educational. Editorial commentary and reviewing the progress of science became more important. The analysis here emphasizes those aspects of popular science which have been identified by Frank Turner as ‘public science’ and by Thomas Gieryn as ‘boundary-work’. The religious, intellectual, and utilitarian values claimed for science by editors and contributors in their tasks of persuading the public to support science and of distinguishing science from what they often called ‘applied science’ are discussed. These values are shown to vary among editors and, for the editors examined here, Shirley Hibberd, Henry Slack, Jam...

Socio-Cultural Perspectives on Science Education: An International Dialogue

Abstract: The Cultural Study of Science and Science Education W.W. Cobern. 1. Science and a Social Constructivist View of Science Education W.W. Cobern. 2. Between a Myth and a Hard Place: Situating School Science in a Climate of Critical Cultural Reform C.E. Milne, P.C. Taylor. 3. A Critical Appraisal of Science Education for Economic Development G.S. Drori. 4. Science Education and the Politics of Equity: I. Analysis and Praxis P. Naidoo, M. Savage. II. An Institutional Perspective K. Taole. 5. An Untold Story: Gender, Constructivism & Science Education K. Scantlebury. 6. The Influence of Language on the Second Language Teaching and Learning of Science M.S. Rollnick. 7. A Cultural History of Science Education in Japan: An Epic Description M. Ogawa. 8. Philosophy of Science and Radical Intellectual Islam in Turkey G. Irzik. 9. Science and Science Education: A Judeo-Christian Perspective M.W. Poole. 10. Towards a Critical Science Education P.C. Taylor, W.W. Cobern. About the Contributors. Subject Index.

Teaching the Nature of Science as an Element of Science, Technology and Society

Abstract: This chapter describes the teaching and learning opportunities in a unit used to introduce aspects of the nature of science to preservice teachers within a Science/Technology/Society (STS) course. The course teaches the nature of science while modeling processes used in science to generate new knowledge. We begin with an overview of the course, its students, and the way the learning opportunities have been arranged to encourage students to use processes of science to generate personal knowledge. Then we describe the unit that introduces the nature of science explicitly, including commercially available materials used and excerpts from a lecture series that describe science as an outgrowth of biological evolution. Finally, we present strategies for assessment and comments about the impact of the course on students. The nature of science unit in our STS course has been adapted and tested with a variety of audiences, including preservice and inservice secondary and elementary teachers of science. Some may elect to adapt this unit for use in preservice methods classes or as a freestanding workshop for inservice teachers.

Science and a Social Constructivist View of Science Education

Abstract: Educators have long viewed science as either a culture in its own right or as transcending culture. More recently many educators have come to see science as one of several aspects of culture. In this view it is appropriate to speak of Western science since the West is the historic home of modern science, modern in the sense of a hypothetical-deductive, experimental approach to science. If “science” is taken to mean the casual study of nature by simple observation, then of course all cultures in all times have had their own science. There is, however, adequate reason to distinguish this view of science from modern science. It follows that science education is an aspect of culture and thus it is appropriate to speak of Western science education. Since the late 1970s the education literature has shown “a growing awareness that, for science education to be effective, it must take much more explicit account of the cultural context of the society which provides its setting, and whose needs it exists to serve” (Wilson, 1981, p. 29). This suggests that a simple transfer of Western educational practices to other cultures including sub-cultures within the West will not do. Indeed, statistics indicate that “far more children study science in developing countries than earlier but the evidence suggests that the great majority do not master more than a small proportion, of the goals set for them” (Lewin, 1990, p. 1; also see Lewin, 1993). Moreover, the increasing pluralism within Western societies — not to mention increasing disinterest in science among students in Western societies — suggest that even within the West it is important for science educators to understand the fundamental, culturally based beliefe about the world that students and teachers bring to class, and how these beliefe are supported by culture; because, science education is successful only to the extent that science can find a niche in the cognitive and cultural milieu of students.

African science and technology education into the new millennium : practice, policy and priorities

Abstract: Historical perspectives and their relevance to present and future practice the role of science and technology in development curriculum innovations and their impact on the teaching of science and technology who shapes the discourse on science and technology education? relevance in science and technology education relevance and the promotion of equity teacher education - pre-service and in-service support models teaching large classes resourcing science and technology education the knowledge base for learning in science and technology education research in science and technology education the mass media and science and technology education into the new millennium.

Common Science?: Women, Science, and Knowledge

Abstract: 'Science is everywhere yet it has nothing to do with me'. That sense of science - of being both inside and outside at the same time - is one shared by many of the women interviewed by the authors. While science and technology permeate our lives, for most women and many men, scientific knowledge is outside their experience. Science remains largely unaccountable to the public who pay for it. "Common Science" confronts the issues of democratizing science and women's exclusion from scientific knowledge, viewing these as fundamentally feminist questions.Surveying the wide range of initiatives designed to encourage women and minorities into scientific training, the book points out that these tend to perceive women and minorities as the problem; science itself is rarely questioned. From the perspective of feminist critiques, science and how it is taught may well be part of the problem. "Common Science" is written by two feminists working in adult and higher education. Although the authors come from different academic backgrounds - one from biological science, the other from philosophy and social science - both share experiences of working in women's studies. The stand point of the book is that the usual approach to the absence of women from science fails most women and that while academic feminist critiques of science and science education are important, more attention has to be paid to what non-academic women think and feel about science. This book begins to fill that gap.Drawing on their own research with women in adult and community education in Britain, the authors explore what women outside the academy think about science, how these understandings might be shaped by their different experiences (grounded in class, race, and age, for example) and what they might contribute to any educational project. Questions such as these are the starting point for their attempts to develop feminist pedagogy around science in the community. Some of the themes in the book are central to many feminist approaches to education. But feminists tend to stand outside science. It is a central argument of the book that it cannot afford to do so. Standing outside science or adopting an anti-science stance, as some feminist writing does, is simply not an option. We are all inside science. It affects us all.

Playing the Paramecium: Science Education from the Stance of the Cultural Studies of Science

Abstract: The recently released National Science Education Standards claim that science is a social process, although that axiom is marginalized in the Standards' overall vision of a restructured science education. This article explores how science education might be shaped if that claim and one body of research that supports it, the cultural studies of science, were taken as a basis for science curriculum. Specifically it analyzes the multiple social positions and knowledges that science and science education create as observations and measurements are carried out and categories are created. These positions produce locations in which multiple contesting knowledges or perspectives are produced. The article argues that these multiple knowledges must be made part of the curriculum. In the conclusion, the article analyzes the importance of the cultural studies of science literature to realizing the Standards' dream of "science for all students."

A Study of the Role of Research Scientists in K-12 Science Education

Abstract: T HERE has traditionally been a gap between those who teach science at the K-12 level and those who do science. Few K-12 science teachers ever have science research experiences in their training; yet they attempt to teach students how science works. The true experts in science are research scientists; yet they are at universities, colleges and research institutions, and may have little to do with K-12 science education. In recent years, there seems to be more attention being given to bridging this gap between scientists and K-12 science education. Many institutes and programs directed toward K-12 science education have utilized the expertise of scientists. (Alper 1994; Heinze et. al. 1995; Hermens 1995; National Science Foundation 1994/1995). The Center for Science, Mathematics and Engineering Education at the National Research Council (the operating agency of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine) has established Resources for Involving Scientists in Education (RISE). The mission of RISE is to "effectively engage the scientific community in the systemic reform of K-12 education" (National Research Council 1995). Interest in involving scientists in K-12 science education was also demonstrated by the Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society's National Forum on Scientists, Educators and National Standards (Sigma Xi 1994). This study was intended to find out some details about the involvement of scientists in K-12 science education and their perception of K-12 science education. Such information should prove useful in determining how scientists might best contribute to K-12 science education in the future.

Science and Science Education: a Judeo-Christian Perspective

Abstract: The scientific enterprise, in common with other studies, cannot be pursued without making certain presuppositions which themselves cannot be derived from science. I shall argue that biblically based Judeo-Christian beliefe are congruent with diese presuppositions. Historically, such beliefe have provided fertile soil within which Western science has developed and flourished from the seventeenth century onwards (Brooke, 1991; Hooykaas, 1972; Russell, 1985). This favourable environment can be seen as springing from characteristics of the world that might be expected from Judeo-Christian beliefe about the nature of God and the nature of humankind as created ‘in God’s image’. However, now mat modern science has become a mature cluster of disciplines, a diametrically opposite belief has become associated with it in popular thought. It is a belief that turns its back on the origins of Western science within theism and presents science as atheistic. This volte-face has been accompanied by various unsuccessful attempts to derive ultimate answers to the meaning of life from science itself. But the failure of science to answer questions about the purpose of life, or how we ought to behave, has brought to science its detractors. However, rather than bemoaning science’s failure to deliver something which was never in its gift, it could be appropriate to look again for answers to these kinds of questions, to the Judeo-Christian worldview within which science developed and found a prominent place.

Coming of Age in Science and Technology Studies

Abstract: Before science and technology studies can play more important roles in the research agendas for science communication, science and engineering education, and science and technology policy, the fiel...

Briging it all back home: some implications of recent science and technology studies for the classroom science teacher

Abstract: In this paper, we support the validity of drawing from science studies to reshape science education. While true educational reform must involve alternative curricular structures, we stress that we do not propose here either a comprehensive curricular framework or a report on a pilot classroom project, as our research perspective comes from science studies rather than from education. Instead this paper is intended to encourage educators to draw from methodologies used in science studies to further their goals in education research and in classroom teaching. First, we examine theoretical connections and divergences between science studies and theories of education. Secondly, we discuss the benefits of teaching science as a social process and offer some suggestions that can be introduced by classroom teachers into pre-existing science curricula.

The effect of teachers' sociological understanding of science (SUS) on curricular innovation

Abstract: Science education reform initiatives advocate incorporating more accurate portrayals of science in the high school classroom that attend to science in its larger social context. However, conveying such understandings will require teachers to possess new knowledge about how science is practised. This paper reports research that investigated the effect of teachers' sociological understanding of science (SUS) on their design and implementation of curriculum innovations. It concludes that teachers' SUS level strongly influences their ability to innovate; knowledge about science is necessary, but not sufficient, for sociologically informed curricula.

Reflection as a Vehicle toward Local and Global Understanding.

Abstract: This paper presents a set of reflective strategies for inquiry to help students in the process of learning science by conducting their own investigations. Reflective strategies are actions students can take to evaluate their progress and understanding as they conduct their investigations in order to be more systematic and effective. We also present a set of instructional supports intended to foster these strategies. These supports are embedded both in the design of learning environments and in teacher practices. We present a case example of students conducting an investigation as part of a unit on natural selection in a regular level introductory biology class at a Chicago public high school. These examples illustrate the use of these strategies by students. In particular, they demonstrate how in a collaborative context reflective strategies take the form of questions and suggestions posed between students. Analyses of strategy use and discussions reveal that more attention was focused on articulating a story about the specific episode that the students were investigating, and less attention was devoted to understanding how this episode is an instance of natural selection. Yet, extending students' understanding of natural selection is also an important learning goal. We conclude with a proposal for future designs to address this issue.

Science, Technology and Society: An Introduction

Abstract: This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the human, social and economic aspects of science and technology. It examines a broad range of issues from a variety of perspectives, using examples and experiences from Australia and around the world. The authors present complex issues in an accessible and engaging form. Topics include the responsibilities of scientists, ethical dilemmas and controversies, the Industrial Revolution, economic issues, public policy, and science and technology in developing countries. The book ends with a thoughtful and provocative look towards the future. It includes extensive guides to further reading, as well as a useful section on information searching skills. This book will provoke, engage, inform and stimulate thoughtful discussion about culture, society and science. Broad and interdisciplinary, it will be of considerable value to students and teachers.

The Necessities and Current States of Educating Ethical Characteristics of Science

Abstract: This paper is based on a literature review in the areas of philosophy of science. sociology. psychology, scientific research and development in technology, and new ethics established in recent years. The study was performed in order to achieve two-fold goals: to identify any necessity of teaching ethical aspects of science, and to investigate the current instructional states of the ethical aspects of science. The results of the literature review showed that teaching ethical aspects of science was necessary in all school levels. and the analyses of the actual states of the ethical education revealed that the majority of science educators considered the ethical characteristics of science as major goals and contents of science curriculum.