An Aesthetic (Deweyan) Perspective on Science Learning: Case Studies of Three Fourth Graders

Girod, Mark; Wong, David T.W.

doi:10.1086/499700

Cited by 83 publications

(80 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…The results suggest that we should look closer at the possibility that interest in school science does not come as a lightning flash, but is slowly learnt in the numerous aesthetic encounters of science class. Aesthetic experiences are intimately interwoven -for good or for worse -with children's possibilities of participating in science education as also Girod and Wong (2002) and Bloom (1992) emphasise. Our results show that children during all the small aesthetic encounters learn whether they can continue with science activities or not.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such positions often draw on the significance scientists make of aesthetic experiences in their autobiographies (e.g., Root-Bernstein 1989;Tauber 1996;Wickman 2006). In line with this numerous authors have argued for a science education also involving aesthetic experiences (Alsop and Watts 2003;Girod and Wong 2002;Lemke 2001;McClure and Zitlow 1991;Szybek 1999;Wong et al 2001). Girod and Wong (2002, p. 200), using a Deweyan perspective, argued that "science can be taught in ways that borrow from aesthetic and artistic pedagogy to tap the power of aesthetic experience" and so lay the foundation for another and more aesthetic kind of understanding.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 90%

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The Roles of Aesthetic Experience in Elementary School Science

Jakobson

Wickman

2007

Res Sci Educ

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The role of aesthetic experiences for learning was examined in elementary school science. Numerous authors have argued for a science education also involving aesthetic experiences, but few have examined what this means empirically. Recordings of children's talk with each other and with the teacher during hands-on activities in nine different science units were made. How the children and teachers used aesthetic judgements and how these judgements were part of aesthetic experiences of the science assignments were analysed. For the analysis a pragmatist perspective was used, especially drawing on Dewey and the later Wittgenstein. The results showed how aesthetic judgements occurred in moments of anticipation and moments when the science activities were brought to fulfilment. In this way children used aesthetic judgements normatively about what belonged in science class and what to include and exclude. In this way aesthetic judgements were an important part of learning how to proceed in science class. In using aesthetic judgements the children also talked about their own place in science class and whether they belonged there or not. In this way aesthetic experience is tightly related to learning science as participation. Learning science also meant learning a special kind of aesthetics, that is, learning how to distinguish the science context from other contexts. The fact that children liked or disliked something outside school did not necessarily mean that it was experienced aesthetically in the same way in school, but needed to be re-learnt. What these results mean for science education is discussed at length. The connection between aesthetics and learning to observe is also briefly discussed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 90%

The Roles of Aesthetic Experience in Elementary School Science

Jakobson

Wickman

2007

Res Sci Educ

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“…Initial studies support this latter contention. In two studies employing case-study analysis techniques (Girod & Wong, 2002;Pugh, 2004), those science students identified as having undergone transformative experiences perceived the subject matter as relevant to their identities or could picture themselves pursuing studies or work in a science-related field. For instance, a middle school student who engaged in an exemplary transformative experience when learning physics described himself as a "science person" and pictured himself pursuing a career in science (Pugh, 2004).…”

Section: Individual Predictors Of Transformative Experiencementioning

confidence: 99%

Motivation, learning, and transformative experience: A study of deep engagement in science

et al. 2009

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This study investigated the prevalence of transformative experiences, antecedents of transformative experience, and the relation between transformative experience and deep-level learning (conceptual change and transfer) for high school biology students (N = 166). Results suggested that the high school students in our sample typically engaged in low levels of transformative experience with respect to biology, but those students who strongly identified with science and who endorsed a mastery goal orientation were more likely to report engagement in higher levels of transformative experience. Furthermore, a higher level of engagement in transformative experience was positively associated with (a) conceptual change in understanding the concept of natural selection, but not inheritance, at the post-and follow-up assessments and (b) transfer at the follow-up assessment. According to Jackson (1986), there are two enduring outlooks in education, the mimetic, which focuses on transmitting predetermined and measurable information to students, and the transformative, which focuses on the transformation of qualities such as values, attitudes, and perceptions. Unfortunately, the majority of our efforts for educating children

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“…Only then is it integrated within and demarcated in the general stream of experience from other experiences." As summarized by Girod & Wong (2002), it is a "negotiated process between action and undergoing that ends in expanded perception" [16]. This kind of experience is transformative, unifying, compelling and dramatic in its quality and allows the experiencing individual to rearrange and reconstruct one's own perception and value about the world [17,18].…”

Section: Presenting the Natural Worldmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Here, the teaching of science is actively seeking a merger with the arts to produce an emotionally charged experience by which the educative goals are attained [20]. Techniques related to the artistic crafting of science education are recommended as practical methodology and have been put to test with students for empirical evaluation of this learning model [16,21].…”

Section: Presenting the Natural Worldmentioning

confidence: 99%

Delivering the message: a theoretical study on designing science content for nature-based experiences

Kim¹

2014

JCOM

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The urgent state of our global environment calls for collective action, which depends in large part on effective science communication for better understanding and awareness. Activities and institutions that provide opportunities to learn about nature all ultimately rely on scientific findings about nature. Although science produces the knowledge and information about nature, for the content to be accessible and meaningful to the general public, it needs to be processed by what I call science content design. This process is similar to the concepts of interpretation in tourism, or aesthetic understanding in alternative science education. This study is a theoretical exploration on the definition and nature of science content design, what constitutes its process, and how the content can be designed. Focusing on the fields of macro-biology, I also discuss the types of biological content generally used in nature-based experiences, and examine model cases of biological content design.

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An Aesthetic (Deweyan) Perspective on Science Learning: Case Studies of Three Fourth Graders

Cited by 83 publications

References 14 publications

The Roles of Aesthetic Experience in Elementary School Science

The Roles of Aesthetic Experience in Elementary School Science

Motivation, learning, and transformative experience: A study of deep engagement in science

Delivering the message: a theoretical study on designing science content for nature-based experiences

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