Science Education and Culture : The Contribution of History and Philosophy of Science

This anthology contains selected papers from the 'Science as Culture' conference held at Lake Como, and Pavia University Italy, 15-19 September 1999. The conference, attended by about 220 individuals from thirty countries, was a joint venture of the International History, Philosophy and Science Teaching Group (its fifth conference) and the History of Physics and Physics Teaching Division of the European Physical Society (its eighth conference). The magnificient Villa Olmo, on the lakeshore, provided a memorable location for the presentors of the 160 papers and the audience that discussed them. The conference was part of local celebrations of the bicentenary of Alessandro Volta's creation of the battery in 1799. Volta was born in Como in 1745, and for forty years from 1778 he was professor of experimental physics at Pavia University. The conference was fortunate to have had the generous financial support of the Italian government's Volta Bicentenary Fund, Lombardy region, Pavia University, Italian Research Council, and Kluwer Academic Publishers. The papers included here, have or will be, published in the journal Science & Education, the inaugural volume (1992) of which was a landmark in the history of science education publication, because it was the first journal in the field devoted to contributions from historical, philosophical and sociological scholarship. Clearly these 'foundational' disciplines inform numerous theoretical, curricular and pedagogical debates in science education. Contemporary Concerns The reseach promoted by the International and European Groups, and by the journal, is central to science education programmes in most areas of the world. Front Matter....Pages i-xv Front Matter....Pages 1-3 History in Science Education, with Cautionary Tales about the Agreement of Measurement and Theory....Pages 5-15 Scientific Culture and Public Education....Pages 17-29 Galileo and the Rhetoric of Relativity....Pages 31-40 Fostering the History of Science in American Science Education....Pages 41-52 Nature-of-Science Literacy in Benchmarks and Standards : Post-Modern/Relativist or Modern/Realist?....Pages 53-65 The Epic Narrative of Intellectual Culture as a Framework for Curricular Coherence....Pages 67-82 History, Philosophy and Sociology of Science in Science Education: Results from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study....Pages 83-102 Front Matter....Pages 103-107 Instrumentality, Hermeneutics and the Place of Science in the School Curriculum....Pages 109-127 The Primacy of Cognition — or of Perception? A Phenomenological Critique of the Theoretical Bases of Science Education....Pages 129-151 Constructivism in School Science Education: Powerful Model or the Most Dangerous Intellectual Tendency?....Pages 153-164 Philosophy of Chemistry: An Emerging Field with Implications for Chemistry Education....Pages 165-177 Can the Theory of Narratives Help Science Teachers be Better Storytellers?....Pages 179-183 Values in Science: An Educational Perspective....Pages 185-196 Which Way Is Up? Thomas S. Kuhn’s Analogy to Conceptual Development in Childhood....Pages 197-212 Saving Kuhn from the Sociologists of Science....Pages 213-226 Front Matter....Pages 227-228 The Effect of a History-Based Course in Optics on Students’ Views about Science....Pages 229-254 Scientific Controversies in Teaching Science: The Case of Volta....Pages 255-271 Newton and Colour: the Complex Interplay of Theory and Experiment....Pages 273-291 Methodology and Politics in Science: The Fate of Huygens’ 1673 Proposal of the Seconds Pendulum as an International Standard of Length and Some Educational Suggestions....Pages 293-309 Reconstructing the Basic Concepts of General Relativity from an Educational and Cultural Point of View....Pages 311-326 Front Matter....Pages 227-228 The Contribution of the History of Physics in Physics Education: A Review....Pages 327-346 Back Matter....Pages 347-362

This anthology contains 21 papers by prominent historians and philosophers of science, philosophers of education, science educators and science teachers. It is expansive in its subject matter, and detailed in its analysis. The common thread in all papers is the contribution that the history and philosophy of science makes to theoretical, curricular, and pedagogical issues in science education.
This is a timely focus as, worldwide, there are increasing demands made on science curriculum writers and teachers to ensure that students come to know something of the `nature of science', or something about the `big picture' of science. This means knowing something of the history and methodology of science, its relations with world views, and how science articulates with social and cultural values and interests. The contributions show how historically and philosophically informed teaching of science can create this `big picture' knowledge about science, which in turn allows science to inform culture and social life.

Booknews

Theoretical, pedagogical, and curricular issues in science education are addressed by 21 papers selected from presentations to the Science as Culture conference at Lake Como, Italy, in September 1999. They consider such aspects as scientific culture and public education, whether constructivism in school science education is a powerful model or the most dangerous intellectual tendency, and reconstructing the basic concepts of general relativity from an educational and cultural point of view. They have been, or will be published in the journal . Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)