Showing papers on "Science studies published in 2014"

Reconceptualizing the Nature of Science for Science Education

Abstract: The chapter sets out the agenda for the entire book. The primary aim is to illustrate the context for the articulation of how “Nature of Science” (NOS) can be conceptualized and subsequently applied in science education research, policy and practice. Considering the vast amount of research literature in science education on NOS, the intention is to highlight some of the recent debates on the topic and provide a rationale for a new direction in this area. The contribution to the NOS debate is made by appealing to the theoretical grounding of arguments in science education on foundational fields like philosophy of science to ensure consistency with contemporary meta-accounts of science. In other words, an evidence-based theoretical rationale is followed to illustrate what is meant by ‘science’. The implications of various investigations into different aspects of science (e.g. epistemic, cognitive and social aspects) are numerous for curriculum content, instructional approaches and learning outcomes. Even though the coverage is theoretical in nature, plenty of concrete examples are used to illustrate how the ideas might translate to the level of the classroom so that they are applicable and relevant for everyday science teachers and learners. Once the theoretical rationale for a new approach is built and unpacked, empirical validation of these ideas may follow in the work of other science educators, including the testing for the effectiveness of some of the proposed strategies.

Examining Classroom Science Practice Communities: How Teachers and Students Negotiate Epistemic Agency and Learn Science-as-Practice

Abstract: The Next Generation Science Standards and other reforms call for students to learn science-as-practice, which I argue requires students to become epistemic agents—shaping the knowledge and practice of a science community. I examined a framework for teaching—ambitious instruction—that scaffolds students’ learning of science-as-practice as they act as epistemic agents. Using a situative theoretical framework and analytical tools from science studies literature, I conducted a multicase study of five beginning teachers. I found that (a) teachers and students negotiated their roles as they decided on “what counted” as science ideas. Participants positioned some ideas as important by making discursive moves, signaling students to either work on the ideas as epistemic agents or, alternatively, to judge the information as “right” or “wrong”; (b) the participants worked to make science a “public” or “private” enterprise. The framing of science then influenced how teachers and students participated in their science practice community; (c) the negotiation of “what counted” as science ideas and the framing of science as “public” or “private” influenced (i) the percentage of students sharing ideas on the public plane, and (ii) the number of science ideas initiated and kept in play on the public plane.

International handbook of research in history, philosophy and science teaching

Abstract: INTRODUCTION, MICHAEL R. MATTHEWS.- Part I: PEDAGOGICAL STUDIES.- Physics.- MICHAEL R. MATTHEWS, Pendulum Motion: A Case Study in How History and Philosophy can Contribute to Science Education.- COLIN F. GAULD, Using History to Teach Mechanics.- IGAL GALILI , Teaching Optics: A Historico-Philosophical Perspective.- JENARO GUISASOLA, Teaching and Learning Electricity: The Relations between Macroscopic Level Observations and Microscopic Level Theories.- OLIVIA LEVRINI, The Role of History and Philosophy in Research on Teaching and Learning of Relativity.- ILEANA M. GRECA & OLIVAL FREIRE Jr, Meeting the Challenge: Quantum Physics in Introductory Physics Courses.- MANUEL BACHTOLD & MURIEL GUEDJ, Teaching Energy Informed by the History and Epistemology of the Concept with Implications for Teacher Education.- UGO BESSON, Teaching about Thermal Phenomena and Thermodynamics: The Contribution of History and Philosophy of Science.- Chemistry.- SIBEL ERDURAN & EBRU MUGALOGLU, Philosophy of Chemistry in Chemical Education: Recent Trends and Future Directions.- KEVIN C. DE BERG, The Place of the History of Chemistry in the Teaching and Learning of Chemistry.- JOSE ANTONIO CHAMIZO & ANDONI GARRITZ, Historical Teaching of Atomic and Molecular Structure.- Biology.- KOSTAS KAMPOURAKIS & ROSS NEHM, History and Philosophy of Science and the Teaching of Evolution: Students' Conceptions and Explanations.- ROSS NEHM & KOSTAS KAMPOURAKIS, History and Philosophy of Science and the Teaching of Macroevolution.- NIKLAS M. GERICKE & MIKE U. SMITH, 21st Century Genetics and Genomics: Contributions of HPS -Informed Research and Pedagogy.- CHARBEL N. EL-HANI, ANA MARIA R. DE ALMEIDA, GILBERTO C. BOMFIM, LEYLA M. JOAQUIM, JOAO CARLOS M. MAGALHAES, LIA M. N. MEYER, MAIANA A. PITOMBO & VANESSA C. DOS SANTOS, The Contribution of History and Philosophy to the Problem of Hybrid Views about Genes in Genetics Teaching.- Ecology.- AGELIKI LEFKADITI, KOSTAS KORFIATIS, & TASOS HOVARDAS, Contextualizing the Teaching and Learning of Ecology: Historical and Philosophical Considerations.- Earth Sciences.- GLENN DOLPHIN & JEFF DODICK, Teaching Controversies in Earth Science: The Role of History and Philosophy of Science.- Astronomy.- HORACIO TIGNANELLI & YANN BENETREAU-DUPIN, Perspectives of History and Philosophy on Teaching Astronomy .- Cosmology.- HELGE KRAGH, The Science of the Universe: Cosmology and Science Education.- Mathematics.- MICHAEL N. FRIED, History of Mathematics in Mathematics Education.- STUART ROWLANDS, Philosophy and the Secondary School Mathematics Classroom.- EDUARD GLAS, A Role for Quasi-Empiricism in Mathematics Education.- KATHLEEN MICHELLE CLARK, History of Mathematics in Teacher Education.- JUDITH V. GRABINER, The Role of Mathematics in Liberal Arts Education.- TINNE HOFF KJELDSEN & JESSICA CARTER, The Role of History and Philosophy in University Mathematics Education.- UFFE THOMAS JANKVIST, Use of Primary Sources in the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics.- Part II: THEORETICAL STUDIES.- (a) Features of Science and Education.- DEREK HODSON, Nature of Science in the Science Curriculum: Origin, Development and Shifting Emphases.- NORMAN G. LEDERMAN, STEPHEN A. BARTOS & JUDITH S. LEDERMAN, The Development, Use, and Interpretation of Nature of Science Assessments.- GUROL IRZIK & ROBERT NOLA, New Directions for Nature of Science Research.- PETER SLEZAK, Constructivism in Science Education.- JIM MACKENZIE, RON GOOD & JAMES ROBERT BROWN, Postmodernism and Science Education: An Appraisal.- ANA C. COULO, Philosophical Dimensions of Social and Ethical Issues in School Science Education: Values in Science and in Science Classrooms.- GABOR ZEMPLEN & GABOR KUTROVATZ, Social Studies of Science and Science Teaching.- ISMO KOPONEN & SUVI TALA, Generative Modeling in Physics and in Physics Education: From Aspects of Research Practices to Suggestions for Education.- CYNTHIA PASSMORE, JULIA SVOBODA GOUVEA & RONALD GIERE, Models in Science and in Learning Science: Focusing Scientific Practice on Sense-making .- ZOUBEIDA R. DAGHER & SIBEL ERDURAN, Laws and Explanations in Biology and Chemistry: Philosophical Perspectives and Educational Implications.- MERVI A ASIKAINEN & PEKKA E HIRVONEN, Thought Experiments in Science and in Science Education.- (b) Teaching, Learning and Understanding Science.- ROLAND M SCHULZ, Philosophy of Education and Science Education: An Underdeveloped but Vital Relationship.- STEPHEN P. NORRIS, LINDA M. PHILLIPS & DAVID P. BURNS, Conceptions of Scientific Literacy: Identifying and Evaluating their Programmatic Elements.- BRIAN DUNST & ALEX LEVINE, Conceptual Change: Analogies Great and Small, and the Quest for Coherence.- GREGORY J. KELLY, Inquiry Teaching and Learning: Philosophical Considerations.- WENDY SHERMAN HECKLER, Research on Student Learning in Science: A Wittgensteinian Perspective.- MANSOOR NIAZ / Science Textbooks: The Role of History and Philosophy of Science.- AGUSTIN ADURIZ-BRAVO, Revisiting School Scientific Argumentation from the Perspective of the History and Philosophy of Science.- PETER HEERING & DIETMAR HOTTECKE, Historical-Investigative Approaches in Science Teaching.- STEPHEN KLASSEN & CATHRINE FROESE KLASSEN, Science Teaching with Historically Based Stories: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives.- TIM SPROD, Philosophical Inquiry and Critical Thinking in Primary and Secondary Science Education.- ANASTASIA FILIPPOUPOLITI & DIMITRIS KOLIOPOULOS, Informal and Non-formal Education: History of Science in Museums.- (c) Science, Culture and Society.- MICHAEL R. MATTHEWS, Science, Worldviews and Education.- MICHAEL J. REISS, What Significance does Christianity have for Science Education?.- TANER EDIS & SAOUMA BOUJAOUDE, Rejecting Materialism: Responses to Modern Science in the Muslim Middle East.- SUNDAR SARUKKAI, Indian Experiences with Science: Considerations for History, Philosophy and Science Education.- JEFF DODICK & RAPHAEL SHUCHAT, Historical Interactions between Judaism and Science and their Influence on Science Teaching and Learning.- KAI HORSTHEMKE & LARRY YORE, Challenges of Multiculturalism in Science Education: Indigenisation, Internationalisation, and Transkulturalitat.- MARTIN MAHNER, Science, Religion, and Naturalism: Metaphysical and Methodological Incompatibilities.- (d) Science Education Research.- KEITH S TABER, Methodological Issues in Science Education Research: A Perspective from the Philosophy of Science.- VELI-MATTI VESTERINEN, MARIA ANTONIA MANASSERO-MAS & ANGEL VAZQUEZ-ALONSO, History and Philosophy of Science and Science, Technology and Society Traditions in Science Education: Their Continuities and Discontinuities.- CHRISTINE L. MCCARTHY, Cultural Studies in Science Education: Philosophical Considerations.- KATHRYN M. OLESKO, Science Education in the Historical Study of the Sciences.- Part 111: REGIONAL STUDIES.- WILLIAM F. MCCOMAS, Nature of Science in the Science Curriculum and in Teacher Education Programmes in the United States.- DON METZ, The History and Philosophy of Science in Science Curricula and Teacher Education in Canada.- JOHN L. TAYLOR & ANDREW HUNT, History and Philosophy of Science and the Teaching of Science in England.- LIBORIO DIBATTISTA & FRANCESCA MORGESE, Incorporation of History and Philosophy of Science and Nature of Science Content in School and Teacher Education Programmes in Europe.- JOSIP SLISKO & ZALKIDA HADZIBEGOVIC, History in Bosnia and Herzegovina Physics Textbooks for Primary School - Historical Accuracy and Cognitive Adequacy.- SIU LING WONG, ZHI HONG WAN & KA LOK CHENG, One Country Two Systems: Nature of Science (NOS) Education in Mainland China and Hong Kong.- JINWOONG SONG & YONG JAE JOUNG, Trends in History and Philosophy of Science and Nature of Science Research in Korean Science Education.- YUKO MURAKAMI & MANABU SUMIDA, History and Philosophy of Science and Nature of Science Research in Japan: A Historical Overview.- ANA BARAHONA, ANDONI GARRITZ, JOSE ANTONIO CHAMIZO & JOSIP SLISKO, The History and Philosophy of Science and Science Teaching in Mexico.- ROBERTO DE ANDRADE MARTINS, CIBELLE CELESTINO SILVA, & MARIA ELICE BRZEZINSKI PRESTES, History and Philosophy of Science in Science Education, in Brazil.- IRENE ARRIASSECQ & ALCIRA RIVAROSA, Science Teaching and Research in Argentina: The Contribution of History and Philosophy of Science.- Part 1V: BIOGRAPHICAL STUDIES.- HAYO SIEMSEN, Ernst Mach: A Genetic Introduction to His Educational Theory and Pedagogy.- WILLIAM H. BROCK & EDGAR W. JENKINS, Frederick W. Westaway and Science Education: An Endless Quest.- EDGAR W. JENKINS, E. J. Holmyard (1891-1959) and the Historical Approach to Science Teaching.- JAMES SCOTT JOHNSTON, John Dewey and Science Education.- GEORGE DEBOER, Joseph Schwab: His Work and His Legacy.

From Science Studies to Scientific Literacy: A View from the Classroom

Abstract: The prospective virtues of using history and philosophy of science in science teaching have been pronounced for decades. Recently, a role for nature of science in supporting scientific literacy has become widely institutionalized in curriculum standards internationally. This short review addresses these current needs, highlighting the concrete views of teachers in the classroom, eschewing ideological ideals and abstract theory. A practical perspective highlights further the roles of history and philosophy—and of sociology, too—and even broadens their importance. It also indicates the relevance of a wide range of topics and work in Science Studies now generally absent from science educational discourse. An extensive reference list is provided.

Who's Asking? Native Science, Western Science, and Science Education

Abstract: Who's Asking: Native Science, Western Science, and Science Education" explores two key questions for science education, communication and engagement; first, what is science and second, what do different ways of understanding science mean for science and for science engagement practices? Medin and Bang have combined perspectives from the social studies of science, philosophy of science and science education to argue that science could be more inclusive if reframed as a diverse endeavour. Medin and Bang provide a useful, extensive and wide-ranging discussion of how science works, the nature of science, the role of culture, gender and ethnicity in science, biases and norms, as well as how people engage with science and the world around them. They draw on their collaborative research developing science education programmes with Native American communities to illustrate the benefits of reconstructing science by drawing on more than 'Western' science in education practices. The book argues that reconceptualising science in science education is crucial for developing a more diverse, equitable and inclusive scientific community and scientific practices, as well as improving educational opportunities and outcomes for youth from diverse and non-dominant backgrounds. Review "Who's Asking: Native Science, Western Science, and Science Education" explores two key questions for science education, communication and engagement in detail; first, what is science and second, what do different ways of understanding science mean for science and for science education practices? The book's authors attempt to convince readers that science could be framed in a more open manner and that such framing would not only be philosophically valuable but could create more inclusive, more diverse forms of science education, thus laying the foundations for a more inclusive, more diverse community of

The politics of buzzwords at the interface of technoscience, market and society: The case of ‘public engagement in science’:

Abstract: Emerging technologies such as genomics, nanotechnology, and converging technologies are surrounded by a constellation of fashionable stereotyped phrases such as 'public engagement in science', 'responsible innovation', 'green technology', or 'personalised medicine'. Buzzwords are ubiquitous and used ad libitum by science policy makers, industrial companies in their advertisements, scientists in their research proposals, and journalists. Despite their proliferation in the language of scientific and technological innovation, these buzzwords have attracted little attention among science studies scholars. The purpose of this paper is to try to understand if, and how buzzwords shape the technoscientific landscape. What do they perform? What do they reveal? What do they conceal? Based on a case study of the phrase 'public engagement in science', this paper describes buzzwords as linguistic technologies, capable of three major performances: buzzwords generate matters of concern and play an important role in trying to build consensus; they set attractive goals and agendas; they create unstable collectives through noise.

What is Basic Research? Insights from Historical Semantics.

Abstract: For some years now, the concept of basic research has been under attack. Yet although the significance of the concept is in doubt, basic research continues to be used as an analytical category in science studies. But what exactly is basic research? What is the difference between basic and applied research? This article seeks to answer these questions by applying historical semantics. I argue that the concept of basic research did not arise out of the tradition of pure science. On the contrary, this new concept emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a time when scientists were being confronted with rising expectations regarding the societal utility of science. Scientists used the concept in order to try to bridge the gap between the promise of utility and the uncertainty of scientific endeavour. Only after 1945, when United States science policy shaped the notion of basic research, did the concept revert to the older ideals of pure science. This revival of the purity discourse was caused by the specific historical situation in the US at that time: the need to reform federal research policy after the Second World War, the new dimension of ethical dilemmas in science and technology during the atomic era, and the tense political climate during the Cold War.

Transforming Participatory Science into Socioecological Praxis Valuing Marginalized Environmental Knowledges in the Face of the Neoliberalization of Nature and Science

Abstract: Citizen science and sustainability science promise the more just and demo- cratic production of environmental knowledge and politics. In this review, we evaluate these participatory traditions within the context of (a) our theorization of how the valuation and devaluation of nature, knowledge, and people help to produce socio- ecological hierarchies, the uneven distribution of harms and benefi ts, and inequitable engagement within environmental politics, and (b) our analysis of how neoliberalism is reworking science and environmental governance. We fi nd that citizen and sustainabil- ity science oft en fall short of their transformative potential because they do not directly confront the production of environmental injustice and political exclusion, including the knowledge hierarchies that shape how the environment is understood and acted upon, by whom, and for what ends. To deepen participatory practice, we propose a heterodox ethicopolitical praxis based in Gramscian, feminist, and postcolonial the- ory and describe how we have pursued transformative praxis in southern Appalachia through the Coweeta Listening Project.

Neoliberal pharmaceutical science and the Chicago School of Economics.

Abstract: In recent years, science studies scholars have critically examined several methods used by the pharmaceutical industry to exert control over knowledge about drugs. Complementary literatures on 'medical neoliberalism' and 'neoliberal science' draw attention to the economic ideas justifying such methods of organizing knowledge, and in so doing suggest that neoliberal thinkers may play an important role in developing them. As yet, the nature of this role remains unexplored. Relying on heretofore-unexamined archival evidence, this article establishes a direct link between the Chicago School of Economics and the mobilization of the pharmaceutical industry in the 1970s. It argues that economists affiliated with the Chicago School of Economics sought to influence pharmaceutical policy and science and constructed institutions to do so. These institutions--most notably the Center for the Study of Drug Development--remain highly influential. This article contributes to a historical understanding of how neoliberal ideas came to assume prominence in pharmaceutical policy, the management of science, and scientific practice.

Derrida, Stengers, Latour, and Subalternist Cosmopolitics

Abstract: Postcolonial science studies entails ostensibly contradictory critical and empirical commitments Science studies scholars influenced by Bruno Latour and Isabelle Stengers embrace forms of realist,

Determinism and Underdetermination in Genetics: Implications for Students’ Engagement in Argumentation and Epistemic Practices

Abstract: In the last two decades science studies and science education research have shifted from an interest in products (of science or of learning), to an interest in processes and practices. The focus of this paper is on students’ engagement in epistemic practices (Kelly in Teaching scientific inquiry: Recommendations for research and implementation. Sense Publishers, Rotterdam, pp 99–117, 2008), or on their practical epistemologies (Wickman in Sci Educ 88(3):325–344, 2004). In order to support these practices in genetics classrooms we need to take into account domain-specific features of the epistemology of genetics, in particular issues about determinism and underdetermination. I suggest that certain difficulties may be related to the specific nature of causality in genetics, and in particular to the correspondence between a given set of factors and a range of potential effects, rather than a single one. The paper seeks to bring together recent developments in the epistemology of biology and of genetics, on the one hand, with science education approaches about epistemic practices, on the other. The implications of these perspectives for current challenges in learning genetics are examined, focusing on students’ engagement in epistemic practices, as argumentation, understood as using evidence to evaluate knowledge claims. Engaging in argumentation in genetics classrooms is intertwined with practices such as using genetics models to build explanations, or framing genetics issues in their social context. These challenges are illustrated with studies making part of our research program in the USC.

Beyond Nature of Science: The Case for Reconceptualising 'Science' for Science Education

Abstract: In this paper, I argue that contemporary accounts of nature of science (NoS) are limited in their depiction of 'science' and that new perspectives are needed to broaden their characterisation and appeal for science education. In particular, I refer to the role of interdisciplinary characterisations of science in informing the theory and practice of science teaching and learning. After a brief review on the reconceptualization of NoS from a range of perspectives, namely philosophy of science, socio-political accounts of science (in the context of colonial science), linguistics and anthropology, I will focus on philosophical and economical characterisation of science, drawing out some implications for science education. A predominant part of my argument will be theoretical in nature with some pedagogical applications in the context of an empirical project conducted in Istanbul, Turkey and co-funded by TUBITAK and Marie Curie Co- fund Brain Circulation Scheme. I will conclude with broader implications of interdisciplinary studies on science for science education research and practice.

Expertise, Fluency and Social Realism about Professional Knowledge.

Abstract: In recent years, the sociology of education has seen a renewed interest in realist accounts of knowledge and its place in education Inspired by ‘social realist’ thinking, a body of work has emerged that criticises the dominance of generic and process-based thinking about (especially) professional education and advocates instead a revaluation of discipline-based and theoretical knowledge In this paper, I discuss the role of the concept of expertise in professional education Following Winch, I situate the dominant theories of expertise in the field today as ‘fluency’ accounts of expertise – such theories focus more on the fluency or automaticity with which the expert acts than on the content of what the expert can do As an alternative, I investigate Collins and Evans’s recent work on expertise in the sociology of scientific knowledge Similar to what Collins and Evans suggests for science studies, I hold that education would benefit from consideration of the developing ‘third wave’ of thinking about the

Introduction: The ontological turn in French philosophical anthropology

Abstract: Philippe Descola’s anthropology is rooted in ethnology and Amazonian ethnography; Bruno Latour’s ontological turn begins in Science and Technology Studies and technographic development of French philosophies of emergence. Sahlins and de Almeida continue a French anthropological conversation about universals and cultural relativity, recently on Amazonian perspectivism, and fundamentally about extremities in realities of different human groups. Fischer and Fortun address poetics and politics of Science Studies, from Fischer’s perception of language games in ontology claims, to Fortun’s insistence on the priority of environmental crisis in late industrialism. If there is now an ontological turn, succeeding a twentieth-century epistemological turn, it addresses both perspectivism and technography. It is not clear what concept concretely synthesizes newfound ontological wisdom. My view is that situation, not emergence or performance, captures the ontological side of relativity, partner to the conception of reflexivity that adroitly articulates implications of relativity for the epistemology of our scientific practice.

Sciences, politics, and associative democracy: democratizing science and expertizing democracy

Abstract: Relations between science and politics are under pressure because urgent problems create an increasing external demand on sciences while inside sciences the old idea that “science speaks truth to politics” is increasingly seen as unfeasible and undesirable. We are not forced to choose between such an objectivist and a skepticist model. Associative democracy provides more fruitful interactions between sciences and politics in order to “democratize science/expertise” and to “expertize democracy” compared with the outworn institutional alternative of parliamentary democracy – incapable of solving risk-decisions because of limited and misguided information, lack of qualification and practical knowledge – and neo-corporatist “shifts from government to governance” – suffering from rigidity, exclusion of legitimate stakeholders, intransparency and lack of democratic legitimacy. It introduces contest where it matters most and where it is most productive: in the framing of issues, in the deliberation/negotiation o...

Epistemology, Sociology, and Learning and Teaching in Physics

Abstract: This paper explores the relationship between epistemology, sociology, and learning and teaching in physics based on an examination of literature from research in science studies, history and philosophy of science, and physics pedagogic research. It reveals a mismatch between the positivist epistemological foundation which seems to underpin the teaching of physics at the undergraduate level and the tentative nature of knowledge and the primarily social-constructivist process of knowledge creation which characterise the practices of professional physicists. Attention is drawn to the consequences of neglecting this mismatch, which is detrimental to students’ understanding of the nature of the discipline, their conceptual development, and the acquisition of skills essential not only for a scientific career but also for students’ development as individuals and citizens. The paper argues for the explicit contemplation of disciplinary epistemology in physics teaching and in pedagogic research to improve student learning and for the avoidance of the dangers of epistemological essentialism.

The question of subjectivity in three emerging feminist science studies frameworks: Feminist postcolonial science studies, new feminist materialisms, and queer ecologies

Abstract: Synopsis This paper explores the question of subjectivity, of who or what counts as a subject, bringing three feminist science studies frameworks into dialogue: feminist postcolonial science studies, new feminist materialisms, and queer ecologies. As critical frameworks, each challenges Western modernity and marginalizing exceptionalisms, hierarchies, and binaries, calling for a more inclusive subjectivity. However, they diverge on whether they seek to finish the humanist project and extend subjectivity to all humans or move to post-humanism and question the very notion of subjectivity. Feminist postcolonial science studies challenges the Western/Non-Western divide of subjectivity, queer ecologies challenges the human/non-human divide, and new feminist materialisms challenges the life/nonlife divide. In their calls for greater inclusivity, the frameworks move expansively from subjectivity located in all human life, to subjectivity in all life, to subjectivity—if there is such an individually located thing—in matter. I argue that bringing these perspectives into dialogue is useful methodologically and politically.

Historical-Investigative Approaches in Science Teaching

Abstract: This chapter presents the historical-investigative approach used in science teaching. Both history and philosophy of science have come to a sophisticated understanding of the role that experiments play in the generation and establishment of scientific knowledge. This recent development, called the “experimental turn,” is discussed first. Next, this chapter analyzes how practical work has been discussed among science educators in recent decades. Based on such a broad perspective, the historical-investigative approach is linked to recent advancements in history and philosophy of science and in science education. Several modifications of the historical-investigative approach are outlined in order to illustrate their particular objectives, potential, and richness.

Revisiting School Scientific Argumentation from the Perspective of the History and Philosophy of Science

Abstract: This chapter aims to revisit the notion of argumentation that is currently used in science education. After acknowledging a consolidated tendency of linguistics-based approaches to the study of ‘school scientific argumentation’, the chapter proposes to shift the interest towards an examination of the epistemic aspects of argumentation, i.e. those that derive from its central participation in science as a process and as a product. The premise of the chapter is that the contributions of the philosophy and history of science and of other science studies and metatheoretical perspectives –which are here collectively called ‘HPS’– constitute a fruitful theoretical background to understand scientific arguments and arguing in educational settings. Based on this premise, five possible ‘bridges’ between argumentation and HPS are proposed; such bridges are identified through a ‘theory-directed’ literature review.

Lab Coats in Hollywood: Science, Scientists, and Cinema

Abstract: The Unquestioned Images of Lab Coats in Postmodernism. David A. Kirby. Lab Coats in Hollywood: Science, Scientists, and Cinema. Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 2011. 265 pp. ISBN 9780262014786. $28 he.Reviewed by Derek RichardOne of the most prevalent themes of postmodern culture is the reliance on the image. Postmodern scholars such as Jean Baudrillard have even gone so far as to suggest that the image has distorted our perception of reality. Moreover, Jean-Francios Lyotard argues that capitalism's emergence with science has played a large role in shaping postmodernism. If the image and commoditized science are indeed significant cultural themes, then a commercial technology that creates images for the masses demands attention. Cinema-and, above all, science fiction cinema-is especially relevant here because both the form and the content of the sf film embody the postmodern combination of the image and commoditized science. In other words, both the technological apparatus of cinema and the subject matter of sf films play a crucial role in shaping public perception.In Lab Coats in Hollywood, author David A. Kirby attempts to delineate this process by looking at the relations between sf cinema and technology as a source of an ideological imagination. Kirby sheds light on the relationship between the entertainment industry and science culture by analyzing the role of the science consultant on Hollywood films. Throughout the ten-chapter text the author transitions from highlighting the specific duties of a Hollywood science consultant on recent big budget sf films such as The Day After Tomorrow (2004) to addressing more ideological issues such as the dissemination of scientific knowledge, film's role in fostering scientific research, and filmic conceptual devices such as "technoscientific imaginary" and "diegetic prototypes" 14). "Ultimately," Kirby writes, "my interest as a science studies scholar is to understand how representations and narratives in entertainment media impact scientific culture" (15).In the first third of his book Kirby discusses the duties of the science consultant, whose primary responsibility on a typical Hollywood film is to achieve realism. Kirby cites Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) as a pivotal film that set the precedent for filmmakers using science experts for authenticity and verisimilitude: "A glance at the list of organizations contributing scientific and technical advice for 2001 dwarfs such input for any other film before or since" (2). Kirby transitions from citing examples of films that used science consultants to addressing the implications of verisimilitude in the media. "Virtual mass media's reality effect is a double-edged sword as it allows people to virtually witness science but it can also lead to questioning what is real" (28). His discussion of realism becomes even more interesting when he points out that a science consultant's work on a film often directly affects the science culture. For example, after his work on Armageddon (1998), science consultant Chris Gilman was hired by NASA to "design and manufacture a prototype External-Vehicular-Activity space suit to be used for real space walks" (91).The second part of the book deals with the relationship between films and scientific knowledge. It is in this section that readers gain the most insight into the persuasive potentialities of cinema. Kirby specifically discusses how films play a vital role in dealing with scientific information that is "in flux." For instance, Jurassic Park (1993) significantly impacted the debate concerning the genealogy of dinosaurs. One of the film's most salient features is that the dinosaurs are portrayed as having similarities to birds, not reptiles. This is no accident. Jurassic Park's science consultant was Jack Horner, one of the leading theorists on the bird-dinosaur debate at the time. …

Political Ecology and the Geography of Science: Lesosady, Lysenkoism, and Soviet Science in Kyrgyzstan's Walnut–Fruit Forest

Abstract: As part of a growing engagement with science studies, political ecologists have worked to theorize environmental science. They have situated science by juxtaposing it with other types of knowledge and have attended not only to science's application but also to its production and circulation. Despite these efforts, science is portrayed in most political ecology as brought to the field site already finished, rather than constructed there through embodied practices designed for use in live scientific debates. I argue that scientists doing science transform the sites in which they work, that political ecologists have not adequately theorized field-based examples of this process, and that help can be found in the geography of science. To this end, I present a historical geography of the Lysenkoist and field-based heredity science that informed a program of forest modification in Soviet Central Asia in the mid-twentieth century. This program, which used horticultural techniques to construct forest-orchards (les...

Varieties of the Primitive: Human Biological Diversity Studies in Cold War Brazil (1962–1970)

Abstract: In recent years, anthropologists, science scholars, and historians of science have shown growing interest in the history of research in physical anthropology in the post–World War II period, although most of the studies concentrate on North America and Europe. Here we focus on the history of human biological diversity research in South America in the 1960s. We carry out a comparative analysis of the research programs coordinated by two influential North American researchers (the geneticists Newton Morton and James Neel) in Brazil. We analyze the genesis of the two projects in light of the scientific and sociopolitical alignments of the period, and we find that the research was strongly tied to the context of the Cold War. We also address the scientific perspectives and choice of study populations (Indians and mesticos), as well as how the researchers attempted to construct far-reaching scientific models pertinent to the human species as a whole based on the concept of “primitiveness.” We argue that the research programs that Morton and Neel initiated in the 1960s are basic to the understanding of the history of physical anthropology not only in Brazil but also on a global scale in the decades following World War II. [history of physical–biological anthropology, human population diversity, population genetics, science studies, Newton Morton, James Neel, Brazil]

Building transnational bodies: Norway and the international development of laboratory animal science, ca. 1956-1980

Abstract: Writing in 1957, William Lane-Petter, a leading British expert on laboratory animal production, provision, and management, identified three formative and interrelated demands that had shaped and sustained the rapid growth of the biomedical sciences during the years immediately following the Second World War: more laboratory animals, better quality laboratory animals, and the growing importance of coordinating responses to these demands at the international level. Lane-Petter identified laboratory animals as a necessary resource for the continued progress and success of the biomedical sciences. Good science required good tools; the quality of research relied on the quality and availability of research tools. The creation of Laboratory Animal Science and Medicine as an auxiliary biomedical discipline in the postwar period, a process in which Lane-Petter played a pivotal role, was a response to these concerns (Kirk 2010). Despite arising independently and distinctly at the level of the nation state, characteristic of the laboratory animal problem was the belief that adequate answers could be found only at the international level. In this article we explore how Norwegian national concerns were both informed by, and informed, the international endeavor to co-coordinate a transnational response to questions of laboratory animal production, provision, and management. In doing so we reveal how laboratory animal science and medicine was mutually constituted at the level of national practice and international activity, mobilizing discourses on scientific standards to produce a transnational ideal grounded in material cultures of the laboratory. Historical studies have shown that sourcing adequate experimental animals (Clarke 1987; Kirk 2008; Druglitro 2012), together with their means of production and standardization (Clause 1993; Rader 2004), have long been central to the success of the biomedical sciences. Analytically, historical scholarship has principally focused on explaining the co-development of highly specific experimental organisms within highly specific research trajectories at the local level (Kohler 1994; Clarke and Fujimura 1992; Ramsden 2011). In contrast, scholars from a wide range of other disciplines, including science studies, cultural studies, and geography, emphasize the international outlook of the biomedical sciences (Jasanoff 2005; Sunder Rajan 2006) and fundamentally spatial aspects of laboratory animal production and use (Davies 2010, 2012a, 2012b). These different perspectives are shaped not only by disciplinary preferences but also by periodization. Historical literature tends to focus on early- to mid-twentieth century chronology, whereas later literature prioritizes late twentieth century to the near present. By focusing on the development of laboratory animal science and medicine from the mid- to late-twentieth century, this article places these two literatures in closer dialogue, whilst contributing to the development of transnationally orientated histories of science (van der Vleuten 2008; Sivasundaram 2010), as well as the study of standardization as a driver of the internationalization of science (Drori et al. 2003; Lampland and Leigh Star 2009). Practices of laboratory animal production and provision thus form part of the little studied auxiliary infrastructure that has sustained the phenomenal growth of the biomedical sciences in the latter half of the twentieth century. Laboratory animal science and medicine was (and is) principally an auxiliary specialty, existing to facilitate biomedical research proper (though it has and does conduct original research to this end). Importantly, this meant that the work of laboratory animal science was one step away from defined biomedical research agendas, operating at a generic level.1 Systems for producing and procuring experimental animals have always been a necessary component of biomedical research. However, prior to the formation of laboratory animal science and medicine in the immediate decades following the close of the Second World War, these practices predominantly consisted of ad hoc local arrangements, based on tacit and unverified knowledge that co-developed with research agendas in dispersed laboratories. In contrast, laboratory animal science and medicine sought to create a new specialist discipline located in particular buildings alongside the laboratory, wherein varied biomedical expertise, including genetics, pathology, microbiology, epidemiology, nutrition, and veterinary medicine, were mobilized to secure the provision of affordable high quality laboratory animals to all regardless of geographic locality. Laboratory animal science and medicine was also distinct in that the new expert knowledge and technical practices created under its name, though produced locally, were international in orientation. The purpose was to provide the biomedical sciences with highly specified species with known histories, as opposed to the ad hoc and often critically unknown animals that had previously been the experimental norm (cf. Kirk 2008). We argue that the differences between national practices, systematized through international relations, came to serve as the medium through which transnational standards of laboratory animal production, provision, and management were created. The ultimate aim was to reconfigure laboratory animals as transnational bodies. As such, from its beginning laboratory animal science was consciously engaged in the construction of shared languages and practices, as well as the networks and infrastructures through which science travels, as a means to provide the tools by which the biomedical sciences were given form and function. The article engages with the aims of this special issue by adopting a historical approach to study the role of Norway in the development of laboratory animal science in the immediate decades following the close of the Second World War. We examine how national difference operated as both necessary and productive factors, mobilized at the international level so as to create and establish transnational standards for laboratory animal science, and also reconfigure the animal itself as a transnational body. We begin by outlining our use of the term “transnational” and its relation to the terms “national” and “international.” We then examine the stuttering national movement to establish a center for laboratory animal science in Norway during the 1950s, which failed in 1958 only to be revived to partial success in the early 1960s having gained traction from the mobilizing international developments. In the third section we investigate further how national differences informed, and were informed by, the construction of international infrastructures that were designed to facilitate the formation of laboratory animal science as a new and critically important auxiliary biomedical field (focusing particularly on how Norwegian laboratory animal science influenced and operated through these emerging international networks). Finally, we examine a specific case study, being the creation of Specific Pathogen Free laboratory animals, illustrating how international activities were orientated toward creating transnational standards and, ultimately, building transnational bodies.

New experimentalism in design research: Characteristics and Interferences of Experiments in Science, the Arts and in Design Research

Abstract: Commonly the term “experiment” is in the first place associated with science, systematic methods and strict principles for the sake of knowledge creation. Nonetheless, the term is widely used across the boundaries of science. The arts attribute artworks likewise as experimental – a usage that is often claimed to be metaphorical, since experiments in the arts (including design) lack the essential attributes that define a scientific experiment. Currently, research in the fields of science studies and literary science has revised these established conceptions as well as the primacy of the scientific experiment. The philosophical approach of New Experimentalism relativizes the deductive conception of hypothesis-testing experiments and argues for a broader view. Studies in literary science and cross-disciplinary comparison between the arts reveal an age-long experimental tradition and also common characteristics of experimental work in these fields. Awareness of these developments is essential for design researchers, theoreticians and historians in order to position, theorize and argue for design experiments accordingly. The essay suggests avoiding a narrow, one-sided view of experiments in design and design research and points to the potential of practice-led design research to reconcile the “two cultures” that shape the field.

History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Science and Science-Technology-Society Traditions in Science Education: Continuities and Discontinuities

Abstract: In the last decades, a great amount of research has advocated innovating science education through teaching contents of the history, sociology, and philosophy of science in order for the students to get a reliable image of science, significant and relevant learning experiences, and higher interest and engagement in science. Given the embeddedness of techno-scientific systems in contemporary societies, the science-technology-society (STS) movement suggested the simple initiative of teaching science through making explicit the interrelationships between science, scientists, technology, and society to achieve these aims. Since then, the STS tradition has evolved and produced some conceptual variations. This paper deals with three of these variations that are currently the key areas of school science education research and teaching: “socio-scientific issues,” “scientific literacy for all,” and “nature of science.” As heirs of the STS tradition, these mottos embody, at the same time, a clear continuity with STS origins, and some discontinuities, which arise from the development of their own paradigms, adding original elements to the STS movement.

Scientific Reforms, Feminist Interventions, and the Politics of Knowing: An Auto‐ethnography of a Feminist Neuroscientist

Abstract: Feminist science studies scholars have documented the historical and cultural contingency of scientific knowledge production. It follows that political and social activism has impacted the practice of science today; however, little has been done to examine the current cultures of science in light of feminist critiques and activism. In this article, I argue that, although critiques have changed the cultures of science both directly and indirectly, fundamental epistemological questions have largely been ignored and neutralized through these policy reforms. I provide an auto-ethnography of my doctoral work in a neuroscience program to a) demonstrate how the culture of science has incorporated critiques into its practices and b) identify how we might use these changes in scientific practices to advance feminist science agendas. I critically analyze three areas in current scientific practice in which I see obstacles and opportunities: 1) research ethics, 2) diversity of research subjects and scientists, and 3) identification of a project's significance for funding. I argue that an understanding of the complicated and changing cultures of science is necessary for future feminist interventions into the sciences that directly challenge science's claim to epistemic authority.

Stranger Relations: The Case for Rebuilding Commonplaces between Rhetoric and Mathematics

Abstract: Pandora’s Hope: Essays on the Reality of Science Studies, by Bruno Latour. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999. 324 + x pp. $29.74 (paper).Science in Action: How to Follow Scientists and ...

Teaching Controversies in Earth Science: The Role of History and Philosophy of Science

Abstract: The state of geoscience education, in terms of numbers of teachers, students taught, and perceived importance, has been lagging behind the other science disciplines for decades. Part of the reason for this is that geology is seen as a “derivative” science as compared to its “experimental” counterparts (for instance, physics and chemistry). However, with current global issues facing the populations of the world (climate change, scarcity of clean water, increasing fossil fuel usage), being geoscience literate is a must. We will show that, in fact, the geological sciences have their own philosophical structure, being both historical and hermeneutic, and it is the structure that makes the teaching of the geosciences for addressing such global issues advantageous. In addition, we will explore the use of historical controversies as a pedagogical tool for geoscience instruction. The history of geology is rife with controversy and the use of such a strategy has been shown to be effective for developing students’ interest in the content, sharpening critical thinking skills, as well as emphasizing the nature of science. This chapter consolidates the knowledge base by describing the structure of the geosciences in terms of its philosophical, theoretical, and cognitive frameworks. It highlights four geoscience controversies in terms of these frameworks, all the while reviewing the literature for the use of HPS in geoscience teaching. Finally it contains recommendations for possible future directions for geoscience education research within this context.

The History and Philosophy of Science and Their Relationship to the Teaching of Sciences in Mexico

Abstract: Science is one of the main attributes of the contemporary world and, more than any other human activity, characterizes the current period from previous centuries. Great advances in the field of science and technology deeply influence natural and social processes. There has been a worldwide recognition of the role of science in modern societies, along with an urgent need to move towards more and better scientific education, particularly in developing countries. It becomes fundamental to modify the current education system regarding science and technology in countries like Mexico, where a cornerstone has been the inclusion of the reflections that historical and philosophical studies have produced in the last three decades.

Five Decades of Science Education in Singapore

Abstract: Beyond educational considerations, science education in Singapore has been shaped by historical, geopolitical and societal forces through more than five decades since Singapore’s self-governance in 1959. This chapter, which presents a historical perspective of the development of science education in Singapore, is aimed at providing the social and educational contexts critical to understanding and appreciating the policies and practices discussed and debated in the subsequent chapters of this book. The narrative, pieced together by examining published and unpublished works of scholars, researchers and the Ministry of Education, traces the path of science education from an early focus on providing skilled manpower for an industrialising Singapore in the 1960s to an inquiry-centred science education to prepare students for living and working in the twenty-first century. This narrative also sheds light on the people and policies that have helped propel the small nation from its early days as a trading port to one respected internationally for the sustained achievement of its students in international mathematics and science studies.