The ‘Nature of Science’ and the Perils of Epistemic Relativism

Romero-Maltrana, Diego; Benitez, Federico; Vera, Francisco; Rivera, Rodrigo

doi:10.1007/s11165-017-9673-8

Cited by 20 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Similar debates have emerged and faded repeatedly over the years (see, e.g., [9,13,21,25,26]). Critics of consensus NOS have often argued that it is too broad and based on overly vague notions, that it ignores important aspect of science and scientific knowledge (e.g., [11,13,28,43]), or even that it provides a distorted picture of scientific knowledge and the aims of science [9,15]. The critics of NOS often seek support from different versions of realism [9,13,15,21] and sometimes from more specific views borrowed from philosophy [19,22,23,25,26].…”

Section: Consensus Nos: Some Supposed Fault Linesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Critics of consensus NOS have often argued that it is too broad and based on overly vague notions, that it ignores important aspect of science and scientific knowledge (e.g., [11,13,28,43]), or even that it provides a distorted picture of scientific knowledge and the aims of science [9,15]. The critics of NOS often seek support from different versions of realism [9,13,15,21] and sometimes from more specific views borrowed from philosophy [19,22,23,25,26]. The critics have advocated views to augment or even to replace the consensus views of NOS by better founded or justified views, where support is sought from science philosophy, in some cases blending several varieties of realistic positions and semantic views on theory [9,13,21,25,26] or from very specific version of philosophical positions like critical realism [19] (see also [15,20,24]).…”

Section: Consensus Nos: Some Supposed Fault Linesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The importance of NOS as part of a school curriculum, as well as its themes, are broadly agreed, which has resulted in shared core, which is referred to as a consensus view of NOS [1]. However, if there is a consensus of basic themes, the debate on how NOS should approach and reach its goals are continuing [9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. Many surveys have also shown that scientists have views and opinions about science that are not in concordance with the views contained in NOS [10,11,[16][17][18][19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The consensus view of NOS has been criticised for being too vague and insensitive to important disciplinary differences, and in addition, providing a false picture of science, of the nature of its knowledge as well as of the practices of science (see, e.g., [9,[11][12][13][14][15][16]19,21,25,26,28]). Some authors have claimed that NOS is essentialist in the sense that it seeks the essential nature of science, and dogmatic in that it seeks integrated and consolidated views [20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Nature of Science (NOS) Being Acquainted with Science of Science (SoS): Providing a Panoramic Picture of Sciences to Embody NOS for Pre-Service Teachers

Koponen

2021

Education Sciences

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Understanding about nature of science is important topic in science education as well as in pre-service science teacher education. In science education, Nature of Science (NOS), in its different forms of educational scaffoldings, seeks to provide with students an understanding of features of scientific knowledge and science in general, how scientific knowledge changes and becomes accepted, and what factors guide scientific activities. For a science teacher, deep and broad enough picture of sciences is therefore of importance. This study attempts to show that the research field called Science of Science (SoS) can significantly support building such a panoramic picture of sciences, and through that, significantly support NOS. The SoS approaches the structure and dynamics of science quantitatively, using scientific documents (e.g., publications, reports, books and monographs and patent applications) as trails to map the landscape of sciences. It is argued here that SoS may provide material and interesting cases for NOS, and in so doing enrich NOS in a similarly significant way as history, philosophy and sociology of science (HPSS) scholarship has done thus far. This study introduces several themes based on SoS that are of relevance for NOS as they were introduced and discussed in a pre-service science teachers’ course. The feedback from pre-service teachers shows that introducing SoS, with minimal additional philosophical interpretations and discussions, but simply as evidential facts and findings, sparks ideas and views that come very close to NOS themes and topics. Discussions related to nature of science, and specific educational NOS scaffoldings for it, can find a good companion in SoS; the latter providing facts and evidence of thee structure and dynamics of sciences, the former providing perspectives for interpretations.

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Section: Consensus Nos: Some Supposed Fault Linesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Consensus Nos: Some Supposed Fault Linesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Nature of Science (NOS) Being Acquainted with Science of Science (SoS): Providing a Panoramic Picture of Sciences to Embody NOS for Pre-Service Teachers

Koponen

2021

Education Sciences

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“…Cada um, segundo Matthews, com um enorme aporte histórico-filosófico e potencial de discussão (ibid., p.18-20). Apesar da relevância de sua crítica, sua sugestão de nomenclatura ainda tem tido pouco efeito (ou adeptos) na área (Romero-Maltrana et al 2017).…”

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Dois Argumentos Pelo Conhecimento Sobre a Ciência No Ensino De Ciências: Por Uma Contraideologia Do Conflito E Um Metaconhecimento Poderoso

Moreira¹,

Gurgel²

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We present and discuss in this thesis two arguments, based in the works of two leading curriculum theorists, Michael Apple and Michael Young, in defense of knowledge about science in science teaching. After a historical rescue on the recognition of the importance of the history and philosophy of science in science education, we discuss briefly the philosophical criticism over the so-called consensus view of nature of science. We argue that the distance between the debate on the nature of science in science teaching and its mains critics remains far from arguments of social, political and curricular nature, then we stress the need for a explicit political role for the history and philosophy of science in science education. This means take into account broader processes in education, such as the process of commodification of education and science and the waves of ideological valuation and devaluation of science. First, based on critical curriculum theory and in Apple's seminal works and his concept of conflict, we advocate that the tenetstype approach present in the consensus view, by its form, tends to be inviting to standard tests, high-stakes testing, as well to the neoliberal and scientistic-positivist ideologies, inherent in commodification policies. We argue, therefore, that the history of science and the concept of conflict must be understood as a counterideology of conflict against neoliberal and scientistic-positivist ideologies, and their political roles emerge as a resistance to the commodification processes of education. Second, based on Young's recent works and his concept of powerful knowledge, we argue that the content of the consensus view of nature of science is sympathetic to subjectivist visions, resonating with the postmodern epistemic relativism. Thus, our argument is that philosophy of science, guided by a realistic structural social view, should be understood as a powerful metaknowledge, a conceptual proposition based on Young's, against epistemic relativism and localist curricular policies that exclude science. The political nature of our argument is evidenced by the fact that such exclusion violates principles of equity and social justice, translated into the call for minimum guarantee of unrestricted, broad and effective educational access to powerful knowledges. Finally, we discuss tensions between the proposed arguments, as well limitations in our approaches, and point to future developments.

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Secondary school students' responses to epistemic uncertainty during an ecological citizen science inquiry

Kervinen

Aivelo

2023

Science Education

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Uncertainty is endemic to scientific research practices; therefore, it is also an important element in learning about science. Studies have shown that experiences and management of uncertainty regarding the epistemic practices of science can support learning. Whereas the common strategies of supporting students in handling uncertainty rely on the teacher knowing the preferred outcomes and answers, few studies have explored settings in which no one can give the right answers to students. In this study, we explore how Finnish, suburban secondary school students (aged 13–14 years) respond to epistemic uncertainty during an ecological citizen science inquiry, in which the aim is to produce novel scientific knowledge. Drawing from qualitative interaction analysis of video and interview data, we articulate three responses to uncertainty that arise when students try to make optimal choices during the inquiry: they (a) envision alternative narrative scenarios and hypothesis; (b) accept and maintain it as part of their argumentation practices, and (c) flexibly reframe their research activities and goals. The findings indicate that the citizen science setting can allow students to reframe epistemic uncertainty in ways that are typical of scientific practices even without deliberate scaffolding by the teacher. We suggest that incorporating experiences of uncertainty that are shared by students and teachers in pedagogical design can support doing and learning science in different settings.

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The ‘Nature of Science’ and the Perils of Epistemic Relativism

Cited by 20 publications

References 38 publications

Nature of Science (NOS) Being Acquainted with Science of Science (SoS): Providing a Panoramic Picture of Sciences to Embody NOS for Pre-Service Teachers

Nature of Science (NOS) Being Acquainted with Science of Science (SoS): Providing a Panoramic Picture of Sciences to Embody NOS for Pre-Service Teachers

Dois Argumentos Pelo Conhecimento Sobre a Ciência No Ensino De Ciências: Por Uma Contraideologia Do Conflito E Um Metaconhecimento Poderoso

Secondary school students' responses to epistemic uncertainty during an ecological citizen science inquiry

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