Philosophically correct science stories? Examining the implications of heroic science stories for school science

Milne, Catherine

doi:10.1002/(sici)1098-2736(199802)35:2<175::aid-tea7>3.0.co;2-p

Cited by 83 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Compounding the problem, textbooks often reveal a biased version of history of science by over-simplifying the science stories and trying to fit them into the concept, rather than dealing with the concept in the context of the history (Matthews, 1994). The history of science presented in this manner tends to contribute to myths students and teachers often believe (Allchin, 2003;Milne, 1998;Niaz, 2007).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Story to Help Student Understanding of Gas Behavior

Wiebe

Stinner

2010

Interchange

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Students tend to have a poor understanding of the concept of gas pressure. Usually, gas pressure is taught in terms of the various formulaic gas laws. The development of the concept of gas pressure according to the early Greeks did not include the concept of a vacuum. It was not for another 2000 years that Torricelli proposed that a vacuum can exist and that he was able to produce a vacuum above a column of mercury. However, the existence of a vacuum continued to be a contentious issue for at least another 100 years. During this time the behavior of gases was studied by Boyle, Amontons, Gay-Lussac, Daniel Bernouli, Charles, and Dalton. In the 19 th century gas behavior was revisited and studied from the molecular level through the work of Graham, Maxwell, Boltzmann, and van der Waal. The stories of conflicting theories and the development of the concept of gas pressure gives students an increased appreciation for the nature of science and helps them with conceptual understanding of the concept of gas pressure.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Story to Help Student Understanding of Gas Behavior

Wiebe

Stinner

2010

Interchange

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“…There are the echoes of Samuel Johnson the great biographer in Freud's words, where he declared that writers "lay on the watch for novelty" [quoted in Daiches, 1956]. Numerous authors have commented on the close fit between scientific inquiry and narrative forms involving quests -detective stories being a particularly apt genre [Milne, 1998;Silverstone, 1984;Silverstone, 1985;Curtis, 1994]. Yet science writing that involved the describing of the scientific method again and again would make for comparatively anodyne reading, at least within a popular science context.…”

Section: Lorementioning

confidence: 99%

Narrative risks in science writing for the lay public

Muurlink¹,

McAllister²

2015

JCOM

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The narrative method of presenting popular science method promises to extend the audience of science, but carries risks related to two broad aspects of story: the power of narrative to impose a compelling and easily interpretable structure on discrete events and the unpredictability and mystique associated with story. AbstractHistory of public communication of science; Science writing Keywords ContextScience writing for the lay public frequently appears to degenerate into so-called 'Just So' stories: narrative explanations of evolutionary phenomena that do not conform to rigorous principles of scientific explanation. The term derived from Kipling's 1912 famous short stories of how creatures like elephants, camels and rhinos got their trunks, humps and skins. 1 But how uncommon is the use of the fundamentals of narrative storytelling in popular science writing -and not just evolutionary phenomena? Bruner [1986] describes narrative and scientific explanation as "two modes of thought, each providing distinctive ways of ordering experience, of constructing reality. The two [though complementary] are irreducible to one another" (p. 11). They differ radically in structure, Bruner insists: scientific explanation follows that of the logical proposition "if x, then, logically, y", while narrative adopts the recitational formula "the king died, and then the queen died." The crucial difference here, of course, is notion of causality: in the first case, Bruner says, causality is seen as a question of universal truth conditions while in the second it is a matter of connections between two particular events (a queen does not invariably die shortly after a king). Norris et al. [2005] echo these generalities, describing narrative as unsuited to the circumspection and caution required in scientific explanation, and preoccupied with particularities as opposed to the search for general principles that are the ultimate goal of scientific enquiry.They also, however, offer a quite specific critical analysis of the defining characteristics of narrative, contrasting them in each case with those of scientific explanation. Briefly, these are: narrative's character as a sequence of discrete, unique, unrepeatable and hence unpredictable events (at odds with the deductive-nomological drive of scientific explanation, where the aim is to reduce events to universal, general, inevitable and or repeatable actions); its incorporation of actors who 1 "Once upon a most early time was a Neolithic man" begins Kipling's (1912) story about how the first letter was written.

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“…Entre eles, destacamos os estudos de Milne (1998), que apontam para a contribuição das narrativas da História da Ciência na transmissão de uma noção particular de cultura da ciência, podendo ser exploradas para iniciar o aluno na cultura científica, descrevendo e situando, social, política e historicamente, os processos de produção do conhecimento científico, como algumas idéias vão cedendo lugar a outras ou como vão se incorporando ao conhecimento já existente. Milne (1998) descreve, ainda, como tais narrativas representam os cientistas como "heróis e seu trabalho como transcendendo as limitações de sua época e iluminando as épocas futuras" (p. 178). Para essa autora, o herói da ciência não é um herói de ações, típico das aventuras infantis ou mitológicas, mas sim um "herói do pensamento", "um descobridor da verdade", determinado, corajoso, como a maioria dos heróis.…”

Section: Narrativas No Ensino De Ciências: Ampliando Nossa Visãounclassified

“…Essa tendência é particularmente significativa para as disciplinas científicas, conforme argumentam Norris et al (2005), Millar e Osborne (1998) e Doll Jr. (1997. Para estes autores, as narrativas deixam de ter um papel secundário como, por exemplo, variar a rotina do trabalho em sala de aula, e se constituem em eixos estruturadores de programas curriculares, favorecendo a apresentação de conteúdos científicos e de idéias sobre a Natureza da Ciência num contexto social, histórico e cultural mais amplo.…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

“…Numa boa estória existe exatamente a quantidade suficiente de indeterminação para incitar o leitor ao diálogo". Ao criticar a "ênfase excessiva no conteúdo que [...] limita o estudo de componentes tais como a natureza da ciência, o papel da evidência científica e as maneiras pelas quais os cientistas justificam seu conhecimento", Millar e Osborne (1998) defendem a idéia de que a educação científica deveria fazer uso muito maior de uma das mais potentes e penetrantes maneiras de se comunicar idéias: a forma narrativa. Além disso, afirmam que os currículos de Ciências deveriam ser estruturados tomando-se por base um conjunto de estórias que explicam e descrevem como o mundo funciona.…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

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O potencial das narrativas como recurso para o ensino de ciências: uma análise em livros didáticos de Física

Ribeiro

Martins

2007

Ciênc. educ. (Bauru)

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Neste artigo discutimos o potencial das narrativas no ensino de Ciências, por meio da análise de quatro versões da história de Arquimedes e a coroa do Rei Hierão, publicadas em livros didáticos de Física. Nossas análises consideraram uma visão ampliada da narrativa como elemento estruturador do pensamento e disseminador da cultura cientifica. Com base em um modelo de análise adaptado da Sociolingüística, discutimos a estrutura e a função de elementos constitutivos do gênero narrativo, estabelecendo como estes elementos permitem a contextualização necessária à interpretação da história para fins didáticos. Mediante as análises, argumentamos que as narrativas podem desempenhar importante papel na construção de imagens sobre a ciência e sobre a atividade científica. Neste trabalho, mostramos como estruturas específicas da narrativa cumprem a função de esclarecer e organizar idéias, e como tal organização viabiliza a inclusão das narrativas como mais uma alternativa para o ensino de Ciências.

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Philosophically correct science stories? Examining the implications of heroic science stories for school science

Cited by 83 publications

References 23 publications

Using Story to Help Student Understanding of Gas Behavior

Using Story to Help Student Understanding of Gas Behavior

Narrative risks in science writing for the lay public

O potencial das narrativas como recurso para o ensino de ciências: uma análise em livros didáticos de Física

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