Teaching About Thermal Phenomena and Thermodynamics: The Contribution of the History and Philosophy of Science

Besson, Ugo

doi:10.1007/978-94-007-7654-8_9

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 87 publications

(52 reference statements)

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“…My argument here is that adopting such long‐term and interconnected strategies for teaching different science topics, linking lessons within and among them (a “spiral” approach) is key to promote the “long‐term impacts” asked for by Clough (2018), as evidenced by participant students' active connection of different NOS ideas across the curriculum. Linking different lessons and TLPs is vital to promoting long‐lasting learning experiences (Roblin et al, 2018), including around NOS teaching, where this type of approach is still scarce (Besson, 2014; Forato et al, 2012). More holistic and interlinked approaches to how scientific development is depicted (e.g., the intercultural model of HOS) can be then helpful to school science experiences that aim both at promoting a better integration of NOS into the curriculum and at potentializing its impacts on widening students' learning of NOS through a long‐term and comprehensive approach instead of based on standalone/disconnected topics/resources.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“It's a lot of people in different places working on many ideas”: Possibilities from global history of science to Learning about nature of science

Gandolfi

2020

J Res Sci Teach

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This article describes a teaching experience at an year 8 classroom (students aged 12–13) in a state secondary school in London, UK that aimed at widening learning about nature of science (NOS) with the input from the field of Global History of Science (HOS), which looks at science as a product of material and cognitive exchanges, appropriations and collaborations. Teaching and learning plans (TLPs) informed by this historical framework were developed by the researcher and one science teacher to integrate NOS teaching into fours topics from the national science curriculum in England (Medicines, Magnetism, Evolution, and Earth's resources). These TLPs were taught by the participant teacher to his year 8 classroom (26 boys and girls of mixed‐abilities) throughout one school year, and the researcher investigated the impact of the global HOS framework on widening students' views about NOS. Data were collated with the help of students' NOS diaries, group mind maps, classroom observations, and an open‐ended NOS questionnaire applied at the start and end of the school year, complemented by participant students' grades in their end‐of‐year exam. Main findings point to the widening of participant students' views about NOS and, more specifically, about underexplored relevant social‐institutional aspects of scientific development, such as diversity and intercultural collaborations and exchanges, exploitation of natural resources, financial, ethical, and political aspects around scientific work. Students were also generally successful in re‐applying NOS ideas explored in one TLP to other TLPs and scientific contexts, hinting to the importance of employing overarching narratives (such those promoted by Global HOS), linking different scientific development, when planning the integration of NOS into the school science. Results also show that NOS was integrated into content teaching without negative effects in students' exam grades.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“It's a lot of people in different places working on many ideas”: Possibilities from global history of science to Learning about nature of science

Gandolfi

2020

J Res Sci Teach

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“…It can aid the learning of scientific concepts by illustrating how they were historically developed by the scientific community, including the analysis of historical data, instruments and experiments (such as seen in Bächtold and Guedj 2014;Besson 2014;Levrini 2014). On the other hand, it can foster discussions about NOS (as seen in Develaki 2012;de Berg 2014;Taylor and Hunt 2014;Fouad et al 2015), including its epistemic nature (such as theories, models and evidence), inquiry aspects (such as methods, experimentation and instrumentation, data collection and interpretation) and its socio-institutional dimension (such as peer reviewing processes, certification of knowledge, collaborative work and ethics and economy in science).…”

Section: Why and Which Hps In Science Education?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nevertheless, while researchers tend to agree that these issues are still present around the world, they also highlight some positive experiences using HPS to foster scientific literacy, and enhance interest about the scientific field (Höttecke and Silva 2011;Guerra et al 2013;Besson 2014;Levrini 2014;Taylor and Hunt 2014;Henke and Höttecke 2015). Thus, the apparent political interest in developing higher scientific literacy levels among the population seems to have been promoting a slow but progressive introduction of innovative approaches into science lessons, and HPS activities have been constantly receiving attention in this field.…”

Section: Bringing Hps To Science Lessonsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Different People in Different Places

Gandolfi

2018

Sci & Educ

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This article presents the results of an exploratory study of students' knowledge about scientists and countries' contributions to science, aiming at answering two research questions: BIn which ways are students aware of the history of scientific development carried out by different people in different places of the world? What can be influencing and shaping their awareness?^Thus, this study aimed at depicting students' knowledge about History of Science (HOS), focusing on what they know about science being done by people and communities from different parts of the world and on how this knowledge is constructed through their engagement with school science. An exploratory research was carried out at two multicultural state secondary schools in London, UK, involving 200 students aged 12-15 (58.5% girls, 41.5% boys) and five science teachers. The method involved an initial exploration of students' knowledge about HOS through an open-ended survey, followed by classroom-based observations and semi-structured interviews with the participants. Results showed a disconnection between remembering scientists and knowing about their work and background, hinting at an emphasis on illustrative and decontextualised approaches towards HOS. Additionally, there was a lack of diversity in these students' answers in terms of gender and ethnicity when talking about scientists and countries in science. These findings were further analysed in relation to their implications for school science and for the fields of HOS, science education and public perception of science.

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“…By "real" I intend that the representations have an ontological existence in themselves and are present in the mind or brain and are therefore available for computation. The other tradition goes back to Ernst Mach, James Maxwell, Gregor Mendel, Pierre Duhem and JeanBaptiste Fourier, among others, who argued that their contributions were merely algebraic abstractions that did not necessarily have an independent existence but which captured the data accurately nonetheless (Besson 2014). To this end, for example, Maxwell promulgated his equations, which explain the properties of electromagnetism although at that time there was no way of explaining how they linked to reality.…”

Section: What Equipment Do We Need To Represent/analyse These Structumentioning

confidence: 99%

Outlining the Parameters for a Linguistic Nativist Position

Vos

2015

SPILPlus

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I will outline the so-called "nativist position" as it relates to language.1 While this debate has a long history, the data on which we can now draw is much richer and more varied than that available when the issues were first articulated and debated in the "60s and "70s. Similarly, the research context is radically different: behaviourism is no longer as dominant as it once was; Linguistics and Cognitive Science are much more theoretically mature and diverse, sporting a rich array of subdisciplines and perspectives. Along the way, some arguments have proved richer and more sustainable than others and indeed, in my opinion, the nativist position has shifted over the years. In some sense, it might be fair to ask whether the field has outgrown the debate and whether it is still as polarising as it once was. This article attempts to outline a nativist position by looking at the fundamental research questions that define it. Nativism is one possible coherent way of navigating through these questions, though other routes may also be possible. Consequently, there may be new spaces for rapprochement between different linguistic disciplines, which are often concealed by our scientific discourses.

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Teaching About Thermal Phenomena and Thermodynamics: The Contribution of the History and Philosophy of Science

Cited by 5 publications

References 87 publications

“It's a lot of people in different places working on many ideas”: Possibilities from global history of science to Learning about nature of science

“It's a lot of people in different places working on many ideas”: Possibilities from global history of science to Learning about nature of science

Different People in Different Places

Outlining the Parameters for a Linguistic Nativist Position

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