Defining versus Describing the Nature of Science: A Pragmatic Ananlysis for Classroom Teachers and Science Educators.

Autor/inn/en	Smith, Mike U.; Scharmann, Lawrence C.
Titel	Defining versus Describing the Nature of Science: A Pragmatic Ananlysis for Classroom Teachers and Science Educators.
Quelle	In: Science education, 83 (1999) 4, S. 493-509Infoseite zur Zeitschrift Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0036-8326
Schlagwörter	Bildung; Erziehung; Erfahrung; Forschung; Intelligenz (Soz); Lehrer; Literatur; Naturwissenschaften; Globalisierung; Konsument; Philosophie; Wissenschaft; Beschreibung; Bewertung; Definition; Dilemma; Pragmatismus; Regel; Verlegenheit; Ziel; Experte; Weltbürger; Wissenschaftler
Abstract	There appears to be an almost universal commitment among science educators to promote the goal of student understanding of the nature of science. Recent disagreement among philosophers of science and between philosophers and other groups such as scientists and educators about the nature of science, however, leave classroom teachers in quandry: If experts disagree about the nature of science, how should we decide what to teach students? In this article, the authors first reconsider what level of understanding of the nature of science students should experience so that they can become both intelligent consumers of scientific information and effective local and global citizens. Second, based on the analysis of the literature, it appears that there is a general agreement among science education stakeholders regarding a set of descriptors that can be used to judge which questions or fields of study are more scientific or less scientific than others. Therefore, we propose that most precollege teachers should attempt to teach students how to use these descriptors to judge the relative merits of knowledge claims instead of teaching a set of rules that attempt to demarcate science completely from nonscience. Finally we suggest two classroom activities based on this proposal and draw some implications for teacher preparation and future research.
Erfasst von	Arbeitsgruppe Didaktik der Physik, Universität Kassel
Update	2001_(CD)