Toward a philosophically more valid science curriculum

Hodson, Derek

doi:10.1002/sce.3730720103

Cited by 254 publications

(177 citation statements)

References 70 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

124

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Rather, they are a subset of the multifaceted tenets that make up the nature of science construct, albeit a subset that is consistent with the recommendations of science educators (e.g., Duschl, 1990;Hodson, 1985Hodson, , 1988Lederman et al, in press;Robinson, 1965;Smith et al, 1997), recent science education reform documents (AAAS, 1989(AAAS, , 1993NRC, 1996), and the writings of science philosophers (e.g., Feyerabend, 1978;Giere, 1984;Kuhn, 1970;Lakotos, 1978;Popper, 1963Popper, , 1988). However, it is possible that other representations of the nature of science could be more salient to decision making than the one used in this investigation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…It is not surprising that in such an environment, students often develop the misconception that scientific knowledge is portrayed as the result of steady and unproblematic accumulation of confirmed hypotheses (Carey & Smith, 1993). This view is essentially inductivist or empiricist and overemphasizes the role of data in the construction of scientific knowledge (Hodson, 1985(Hodson, , 1988Nadeau & Desautels, 1984;Strike & Posner, 1985).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Without an appreciation of the conjectural nature of scientific knowledge, students may adopt an inefficient, passive learning style, or simply decide that science is not for them (Driver et al, 1996). Indeed, science educators have argued that learning science content would be enhanced by drawing attention to the similarities between students' conceptual change and the nature of scientific revolutions (Hodson, 1988), and learning and reflecting on the history of the development of scientific knowledge (Matthews, 1994). Previous studies provide initial support for these ideas by suggesting a relationship between views of the nature of science and conceptual understanding in science (Hammer, 1994;Shapiro, 1989;Songer & Linn, 1991).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Understandings of the nature of science and decision making on science and technology based issues

2003

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ABSTRACT:The purpose of this investigation was to explicate the role of the nature of science in decision making on science and technology based issues and to delineate factors and reasoning associated with these types of decisions. Twenty-one volunteer participants purposively selected from the faculty of geographically diverse universities completed an open-ended questionnaire and follow-up interview designed to assess their decision making on science and technology based issues. Participants were subsequently placed in one of two groups based upon their divergent views of the nature of science as assessed by a second open-ended questionnaire and follow-up interview. Profiles of each group's decision making were then constructed, based on participants' previous responses to the decision making questionnaire and follow-up interviews. Finally, the two groups' decisions, decision influencing factors, and decision making strategies were compared. No differences were found between the decisions of the two groups, despite their disparate views of the nature of science. Participants in both groups based their decisions primarily on personal values, morals/ethics, and social concerns. While all participants considered scientific evidence in their decision making, most did not require absolute "proof," even though many participants held absolute conceptions of the nature of science. Overall, the nature of science did not figure prominently in either group's decisions. These findings contrast with basic assumptions of current science education reform efforts and call for a re-examination of the goals of nature of science instruction. Developing better decision making skills-even on science and technology based issues-may involve other factors, including more value-based instruction and attention to intellectual/moral development.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Understandings of the nature of science and decision making on science and technology based issues

2003

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…At least it could be so if the science curriculum were coherent with the construction of scientific knowledge, as advocated by Hodson (1988). But the relations among theory and empirical evidence are problematic (Gil Pérez & Carrascosa Alis, 1994): empirical tests are seen as objective observations not framed in a theory, and practical work does not always fulfill its objectives.…”

Section: Participants Context Taskmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…But the relations among theory and empirical evidence are problematic (Gil Pérez & Carrascosa Alis, 1994): empirical tests are seen as objective observations not framed in a theory, and practical work does not always fulfill its objectives. Hodson (1988Hodson ( , 1990 proposes to reconceptualize practical work, to design it in accordance with philosophy of science, attending to objectives as practicing science and learning its nature. In line with Hodson's recommendations, the task was designed as an authentic problem, with the features of being a problem for the students; open, here meaning different paths for finding the solution, as the students were not given steps or instructions to follow and had to design the procedure themselves; framed in a real context, how to find use or dispose of a potentially dangerous substance, and involving a process of resolution which required the students to act as a knowledge-producing community, using their resources (cognitive and material) or developing them, discussing proposals, testing them, finding reasons for failures and reporting the results.…”

Section: Participants Context Taskmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contextualizing practices across epistemic levels in the chemistry laboratory

Jiménez‐Aleixandre

Reigosa²

2006

Science Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ABSTRACT:The process of construction of meanings for the concepts of concentration and neutralization is explored in terms of contextualizing practices (Lemke, 1990, Talking Science. Language, Learning and Values, Norwood, NJ: Ablex) creation of meanings through connections established among actions and their context. This notion is expanded to include the connections established among concepts and their context of use, a solving problem task in a laboratory. The purpose is to document the process of meaning construction for these concepts and their transformation from mere terms into decisions and practical actions in a chemistry laboratory. We sought to combine this analysis with an epistemological focus, examining the relative epistemic status of the contextualizing practices. The conversations and actions of four grade 10 students and their teacher (second author) were recorded while solving an open task: to find the concentration of an HCl solution. The results show a progression in the process of contextualization, from an initial inability to use the concepts as part of the resources to complete the titration task, to the transformation of definitions into shared meaningful concepts that allow to take actions,

show abstract

Application of Dublin Core metadata in the description of digital primary sources in elementary school classrooms

Gilliland

Kafai

Landis

2000

J. Am. Soc. Info. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Researchers evaluated the ability of 4th and 5th grade science and social science students to create Dublin Core metadata to describe their own images for inclusion in Digital Portfolio Archives. The Dublin Core was chosen because it provided a systematic, yet minimal way for students to describe these resources at the item level and relate them to collection‐level metadata prepared for digitized primary sources by archivists using Encoded Archival Description (EAD). Researchers found that while students were able to supply simple elements such as title and subject with relative ease, they had difficulty moving between general and progressively more granular or refined descriptive elements. Students performed poorly in distinguishing between and completing related, but distinct metadata elements, such as title, subject, and description. Researchers also found that there are still significant issues that need to be addressed if young users in a variety of learning contexts, especially those who are only recently literate, are to be able to make sense of richer metadata such as EAD that is used to describe collections of primary source material.

show abstract

Toward a philosophically more valid science curriculum

Cited by 254 publications

References 70 publications

Understandings of the nature of science and decision making on science and technology based issues

Understandings of the nature of science and decision making on science and technology based issues

Contextualizing practices across epistemic levels in the chemistry laboratory

Application of Dublin Core metadata in the description of digital primary sources in elementary school classrooms

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About