What sort of science education do we really need?

Duggan, Sandra; Gott, Richard

doi:10.1080/09500690110110133

Cited by 92 publications

(82 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Measurement and its related uncertainty are at the very heart of empirical science, and as such are widely considered to be one of the most fundamental and important components of a student's science education (for example, Duggan & Gott, 2002;Welzel et al, 1998). Each phase of an experiment -the design, performance, analysis, and conclusion phases -requires that students know what it means to take a measurement and be able to apply this knowledge along with an understanding of the associated uncertainty.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

University students’ ideas about data processing and data comparison in a physics laboratory course

Kung

Linder

2012

NorDiNa

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This study investigates undergraduate students' ability to use the ideas of measurement and uncertainty to process and compare experimental data. These ideas include not only knowing what it means to use an instrument to take a measurement, but also being able to apply that knowledge, including the ideas that make up uncertainty analysis, to every aspect of an experiment. A physics laboratory course for the Energy Systems Engineering programme at Uppsala University has been designed to focus on teaching students the ideas of measurement and the associated laboratory skills. In the reported study, we use an open-ended survey to investigate students' ideas about data processing and data comparison before and after this laboratory course. The results show that several students, even after the course, are still unable to appropriately use the ideas of uncertainty. This suggests that these ideas must be continuously revisited and explored as a fundamental part of all undergraduate laboratory experiences. IntroductionData processing and data comparison principally involve the ideas of measurement and uncertainty. Measurement and its related uncertainty are at the very heart of empirical science, and as such are widely considered to be one of the most fundamental and important components of a student's science education (for example, Duggan & Gott, 2002;Welzel et al., 1998). Each phase of an experiment -the design, performance, analysis, and conclusion phases -requires that students know what it means to take a measurement and be able to apply this knowledge along with an understanding of the associated uncertainty. We propose that the underlying ideas for understanding uncertainty can be broadly categorized as follows: (Similar lists may be found in Deardorff, 2001, andFairbrother &Hackling, 1997.) • All measurements have an associated uncertainty, which can and should be quantified and reported.• A calculated result has an associated uncertainty based on the uncertainty carried in its dependent values.University students' ideas about data processing and data comparison in a physics laboratory course

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

University students’ ideas about data processing and data comparison in a physics laboratory course

Kung

Linder

2012

NorDiNa

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“…We can see how the risk repertoire is used by the students, but that the outcome of their reasoning results in different decisions. Often, the risk is connected with the vaccination and not with the disease itself unlike Duggan and Gott's (2002) study where parents emphasized the incidence of the disease. Even if the teenagers in this study are often of age, as teenagers their parents still had a large impact on their decision.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Even if the mass media had put the issue of MMR vaccine and autism on the agenda, it was personal experience that was used in justifying decisions. According to Duggan and Gott (2002), interest in an issue like immunization often starts in social concern about government intention behind a vaccination campaign. Suspicion and mistrust may lead to the start of action groups.…”

Section: Risk and Vaccinationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

To vaccinate or not to vaccinate: how teenagers justified their decision

Lundström

Ekborg

Ideland

2012

Cult Stud of Sci Educ

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This article reports on a study of how teenagers made their decision on whether or not to vaccinate themselves against the new influenza. Its purpose was to identify connections between how teenagers talk about themselves and the decision they made. How do the teenagers construct their identities while talking about a specific socio-scientific issue? Seven teenagers between 17 and 19 years of age participated in the study. The informants were requested to document in video diary situations in which their decisions about the vaccination were discussed. All the teenagers recorded their diaries during the weeks of the vaccination programme. The students were also interviewed 1-4 weeks after completing their diaries. A discourse psychology framework (Potter and Wetherell 1987) was used to analyse the video diaries and the interviews. In this context, decision-making on a socioscientific issue must be understood as an appropriation and use of discursive repertoires, and also as meaning-making in relation to other fields, such as society and identity. It must also be understood in relation to the use of science repertoire-or actually, the school science repertoire-how available is this discourse in different contexts outside school? The repertoires were categorised into two main types; experienced emphases and important actors. The first included the categories of risk, solidarity and knowledge. The second included family and friends, media, school and society. The school repertoire was seldom used by the students, indicating that school and science education seem not to be an interpretative repertoire available to them. Instead, the risk, solidarity, family and friends and the media repertoires were available in their talk about vaccination. These results indicate the need to use media reports in dealing with scientific literacy and also in risk assessment discussions in school. It also indicates the importance of relating school science closely to the students' daily life.

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“…Bencze, 2000), student engagement in student-led science and technology projects is necessary for them to develop scientific and technological connoisseurship -that is, unique sets of capabilities that enable people to solve problems in specific contexts (Hodson, 1996). Such connoisseurship is useful for science-based careers and for use of science in everyday life (Aikenhead, 2005;Duggan & Gott, 2002). Accordingly, governments have officially sanctioned efforts to help students to develop expertise in scientific inquiry and related historical, sociological and philosophical perspectives (e.g.…”

Section: Doing Science In Schoolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A National Science Fair: Exhibiting support for the knowledge economy

Bencze

Bowen

2009

International Journal of Science Education

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Student-directed, open-ended scientific investigations and invention projects may serve to deepen and broaden students' scientific and technological literacy and, in so doing, enable them to succeed in democracies greatly affected by processes and products of science and technology. Science fairs, events at which student-led projects are evaluated and celebrated, could contribute to such positive personal and social outcomes.Qualitative data drawn from a national science fair over succeeding years indicate (after analyses of largely qualitative data, using constant comparative methods) that, apart from positive outcomes regarding science literacy, there may be some significant issues about the fair that warrant critical review. It is apparent from these studies that there are issues of access, image and recruitment associated with the fair. Qualification for participation in the fair appears to favour students from advantaged, resource-rich backgrounds.Although these students do benefit in a number of ways from the fair experience, it is apparent that science fairs also greatly benefit sponsors -who can, in a sense, use science fairs for promotional and recruitment purposes. These findings and claims raised, for us, some important questions possibly having implications for science education and for society more generally.

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What sort of science education do we really need?

Cited by 92 publications

References 8 publications

University students’ ideas about data processing and data comparison in a physics laboratory course

University students’ ideas about data processing and data comparison in a physics laboratory course

To vaccinate or not to vaccinate: how teenagers justified their decision

A National Science Fair: Exhibiting support for the knowledge economy

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