Showing papers on "Social science education published in 1991"

A history of ideas in science education : implications for practice

Abstract: By allowing key scientists, researchers, professors, and classroom teachers of science to speak for themselves through their published writings about what is best and needed for the field, Dr DeBoer presents a fascinating account of the history of science education in the United States from the middle of the 19th century to the present. The book relates how science first struggled to find a place in the school curriculum and recounts the many debates over the years about what that curriculum should be. In fact, many of what we consider modern ideas in science education are not new at all but can be traced to writings on education of one hundred years ago. The book is aimed at all those interested in science education: classroom teachers and science education leaders concerned about the historical justification of the goals and strategies proposed for the field. The book should be enjoyed not only by the researcher but also by anyone curious about just how curriculum is decided upon and implemented on a national scale.

Feedback Thought in Social Science and Systems Theory

Abstract: This is a study of a method of thinking in the social sciences known as the loop concept. This concept underlies the notions of feedback and circular causality. After tracing its historical roots, the author argues that modern usage of feedback thinking in the social sciences divides into two main lines of development. He makes extensive use of the analysis of citations and texts from many branches of the social sciences to document this split and to trace its development and implications. The presumption underlying this work is that feedback thinking is one of the most penetrating patterns of thought in all social science. Part of the purpose of the text is to illuminate the significance of feedback thinking in social science and social policy - current as well as classical.

Science in the national curriculum

Abstract: Science in context science and the mathematics curriculum science and English science and technology science and the humanities science and the creative arts science, the person and the environment science and equal opportunities Key Stage 5 science and post-16 education.

Accounting as a Critical Social Science

Abstract: Critical theory is concerned with enhancing individual wellbeing and autonomy through societal critique that has its origins in philosophy, sociology and political economics. Critical social science is the application of a critical theoretic within a social‐science domain. Accounting is a technology but it is not ideologically sterile. Critical social science applies critical‐theory methodology in order to make evident the ideological base of manifestations in social science as they lead to alienation, oppression and emancipation. This critical social science critique is applied in order to make evident the ideological base of such manifestations in, or related to, accounting.

Science education and philosophy of science: congruence or contradiction?

Abstract: In this paper, we examine the goals and methods of science education from the standpoint of recent trends in the philosophy of science. Specifically, we consider the implications for science curricula and instruction of new perspectives on scientific knowledge, on the nature of evidence, and on how knowledge changes. We argue that much of science education remains mired in outmoded positivist assumptions, and suggest specific ways in which science instruction can promote a more appropriate epistemological attitude and provide a more accurate sense of the scientific enterprise.

A method to quantify major themes of scientific literacy in science textbooks

Abstract: Science textbooks are frequently used to convey a great deal of the information that students receive in science courses. They influence how science teachers organize the curriculum and how students perceive the scientific enterprise. An overreliance on these teaching aids often results in an overemphasis on terminology and vocabulary, and presents a false impression of the nature of science. As a result of their importance, a method was developed to assess the curricular emphasis in science textbooks. The procedure is explained in a 25-page manual to train researchers to determine the relative emphasis that has been given to (a) science as a body of knowledge, (b) science as a way of investigating, (c) science as a way of thinking, and (d) the interaction among science, technology, and society. Textbooks in the areas of life science, earth science, physical science, biology, and chemistry were used in the analyses. Interrater agreements of at least 80% and kappas of at least 0.73 were achieved in the content analyses among two experienced researchers and one science teacher who were given the training manual to learn the assessment procedure.

The History and Philosophy of Social Science

Abstract: 1. Sociality and Social Science 2. The Rise of the Age of Science 3. Social Laws 4. Political Theory and Political Philosophy 5. Physiocracy: The First Economic Model 6. The Methodology of Modelling 7. The Scottish Enlightenment of the Eighteenth Century 8. Progress and Perfection 9. Classical Political Economy 10. The Idea of Harmonious Order 11. Utilitarianism 12. French Positivism and the Beginnings of Sociology 13. The Marxian Theory of Society 14. The Methodology of History 15. The Development of Sociological Theory 16. Biology, Social Science, and Social Policy 17. The Development of Economic Theory 18. The Foundations of Science

Science Education and Praxis: the Relationship of School Science to Practical Action

Abstract: (1991). Science Education and Praxis: the Relationship of School Science to Practical Action. Studies in Science Education: Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 43-79.

Newspaper science, school science: friends or enemies?

Abstract: Learning through newspapers is considered an instance of informal science learning ‐ an area of learning which is notoriously difficult to assess, and its relationship with formal learning hard to unravel. It is argued that the science presented in newspapers can be of value in formal science education if used carefully and critically. From the other perspective, it is suggested that one of the aims of the science curriculum should be to develop in students both the will and the ability to study newspaper science with understanding and with healthy scepticism.

Integrating the history and nature of science and technology in science and social studies curriculum

Abstract: The decade of the 1980s was a period of pressure for and movement towards educational reform. During the early 1980s, numerous reports focused attention on the failure of education in general, and science and mathematics education in particular, to prepare American students for the 21st century. These efforts, in turn, influenced calls for reform in the fields of science and social studies education. Several trends have particular relevance for the teaching of the history and nature of science and technology. First, there is a push for the general improvement of scientific literacy. Second, there is a resurgence of interest in history instruction. And third, the trend toward the integration of sciencetechnology-society themes into contemporary school programs. Authors such as Bertrand Russell and C. P. Snow addressed the importance of understanding science and society connections in their books The Impact of Science on Society (Russell, 1951) and The Two Cultures (Snow, 1962). These insights, however, had little influence on school programs. The situation in which individuals neither perceive nor understand connections between science and society is partially due to the fact that we do not teach about those connections. Presenting students with the historical influences of science on society and society on science could help fulfill the goal of citizenship.

Intentionalistic Explanations in the Social Sciences

Abstract: The dispute between the empiricist and interpretivist conceptions of the social sciences is properly conceived not as a matter of reduction or covering laws. Features specific to the social science...

Public Understanding of Science

Abstract: [Editor's introduction: The following are excerpts from three talks given at the conference "Policies and Publics for Science and Technology, " London, April 1990. They introduce a British research...

The Evolution of Social Science Instruction, 1900-86: A Cross-National Study.

Abstract: The evolution of social science instruction in the context of an international modern school curriculum is examined through the analysis of cross-national policies on curricula that have been institutionalized and reorganized since the turn of this century. Drawing on universally shared ideas about the value of national progress and the legitimating power of education to reinforce the image of the state, countries have frequently adapted exemplary social science curricula independent of local conditions. The result is an overwhelming homogeneity of curricula over time and national boundaries that incorporate a significant transformation in the instruction of individual social science subjects: a dramatic shift after World War II from traditional subjects, such as history and geography, to a new integrated subject category, "social studies." The development of social science curricula in the Philippines and Nigeria is presented to illustrate the central role that curriculum plays in the emergence of a modern, integrated society. If universal primary education in Westem

Understanding Peasant China: Case Studies in the Philosophy of Social Science.

Abstract: In this innovative look at several current debates in China studies, Daniel Little investigates the merits of social scientists' hypotheses, reasoning, and explanations. Little focuses on four topics: the relative importance of individual rationality and community values in explaining traditional peasant behavior; the role of marketing and transportation systems in Chinese society; the causes of agricultural stagnation in traditional China; and the reasons for peasant rebellions in Qing China.

Dimensions of Hands-on Science

Abstract: BIOLOGY teachers have been bombarded with information regarding the need for hands-on science. Articles directed to biology teachers have been written on the subject (Leonard 1988). A blue ribbon panel authored a recent book on reform in biology and included a large section on the role laboratory instruction should play in biology classrooms (Fulfilling the Promise: Biology Education in the Nation's Schools, 1990). Recently, a new twist has been added, and the topic is called Hands-on/Minds-on science. Part of a recent issue of the Kappan was devoted to this very issue (Gough 1990). Padilla (1980) stated that many texts and programs use the term hands-on quite freely in order to sell their programs without regard to its real meaning. Like many terms in educational practice, these terms are not often used with a standard definition that has one meaning for all practitioners. What then do these terms mean? Are they sufficiently comprehensive and meaningful for the science teacher to find useful? In the process of answering these questions, we propose a new organization that is more comprehensive and useful than previous descriptions. If effective lab instruction is a goal, then clarity of these terms is necessary. In general, hands-on science is defined as any science lab activity that allows the student to handle, manipulate or observe a scientific process. Hofstein and Lunetta (1982) defined hands-on science laboratory activities as "contrived learning experiences in which students interact with materials to observe phenomena" (pp. 201-202). Hands-on science lab activities may be differentiated from other common methods of instruction, such as lecture and demonstration, by the criterion that students interact with materials. According to Hofstein and Lunetta, lab activities do not include demonstrations, museum visits or diffused field trips. A minds-on science activity includes the use of higher order thinking, such as problem solving, to the hands-on activity. Recent calls have been made to reform hands-on laboratory instruction in secondary biology. A distinguished panel of biology educators iterated the fact that current modes of biology laboratory instructional strategies have failed to meet the goals of laboratory instruction (Fulfilling the Promise: Biology Education in the Nation's Schools, 1990). This panel recommended that hands-on lab activities should be capable of producing "conceptual changes necessary for intellectual development and understanding" (p. 37). Higher level cognitive skill development was also stressed by the panel. Weiss (1987) reported that the use of hands-on lab activities by secondary teachers has dropped from 59 percent in 1977 to 39 percent in 1985-86. Recent researchers who reviewed popular high school biology textbooks revealed that the written lab activities of these texts are not capable of meeting the laboratory goals of problem solving and higher level inquiry (Lumpe & Scharmann, in press). It is evident that a clearer picture of the biology laboratory is needed so that reforms may be effectively employed.

Global Social Change: A New Agenda for Social Science?

Abstract: That the world is undergoing a major transformation in social consciousness is now widely accepted. Never before has the world been witness to so many thousands of attempts by individuals and transnational organizations to combat age-old social ills such as hunger, poverty, disease, lack of education, human rights abuses, armed conflict, and environmental degradation. The 1990's will be known as the decade of global social innovation, and whoever chronicles that decade will see clearly what we perceive only dimly now. The emergence of global social consciousness has, in turn, produced new forms of human relationships and organizing activities. These relationships and activities may prove to be important to understand as the social sciences attempt to keep pace with the rapid changes occurring in our global society. This paper outlines some of the challenges and opportunities that will face social scientists should they choose to enter this new domain.

History of science, individual development and science teaching

Abstract: The existence of similarities between the ideas of modern students and those of early scientists have led to suggestions about how the history of science can be used to help students undergo similar transitions to those experienced by early generations of scientists. In this paper attention is focused not only on these similarities but also on some crucial differences between the processes and concepts or conceptual frameworks of these two groups of people. In the light of these similarities and differences some of the implications for producing and using historical material in the science classroom are discussed.

A Review of Science Education: Past Failures, Future Hopes.

Abstract: SCIENCE education is failing. The scientific community is worried that the lack of interest and proficiency in science today will lead to a shortage of chemists, science professors, computer whizzes and engineers in the future. Some experts predict this shortfall of scientists and engineers as early as the year 2000. Science and technological developments have an impact on just about every issue facing our nation. These issues include economic competitiveness, energy policy, space, health and national security, according to Solomon Buchsbaum, a physicist at AT&T Bell Laboratories. Buchsbaum was recently chosen to serve on a science and technology advisory council for President Bush. Science education today is unsuccessful in producing a scientifically literate society that will be able to address technological developments and make decisions that will shape our future society and way of life. Many of the more than 300 national reports on education issued since 1983 cite the deplorable state of the average American's scientific literacy (Champagne 1989). Why is science education failing? How should science be taught? These are the two questions that are addressed in this paper. During the 1960s, in response to the Soviet launching of Sputnik, science curriculum focused on what scientists knew (Yager 1988). Curriculum writers and educators believed that students need to have certain information before they could formulate real questions or engage in meaningful inquiry (Yager 1988).