Teaching Science to Every Child: Using Culture as a Starting Point ©Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2012 Chapter 2 The Nature of Science ©Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2012

Chapter 2 Topics Explaining the Nature of ScienceDeveloping Scientific KnowledgeScience as Social and TentativeScientific Theories: Source of Power in ScienceScience as a Way of KnowingNature of Science and Diverse Classrooms ©Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2012

Explaining the Nature of Science The complexity of science can be appreciated by viewing science as if it is a culture Science culture: Underlying tendencies and unspoken assumptions that guide the actions of scientists In addition to the “stuff” of science, students should also learn the hows and whys of the science culture The knowledge created by science is shaped by the culture of science that produced it ©Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2012

Developing Scientific Knowledge Empirical: Knowledge comes from Observational DataEvidence (Data) is used to Produce ExplanationsScience Processes and Interpretations Benefit from CreativitySubjectivity: Our Perspectives Shape what we PerceiveNew Evidence is Used to Test the Explanation Evidence Explanations ©Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2012

Science as Social and Tentative The “steps of the scientific method” is a mythTeaching children that science as a recipe is misleadingScientists work with others and knowledge is deliberatedAllowances made for new explanations of the evidenceTentativeness of science knowledge is a cultural norm ©Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2012

Making Explanations from Evidence Evidence of Continental Drift eventually led to the Explanation of Plate Tectonics ©Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2012

Scientific Theories Theories Explain Phenomena, Laws Describe Patterns Theories have the Power to Predict Theories are Not as Simple as Hypotheses ©Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2012

Science as a Way of Knowing Science is One Perspective Characteristics of THIS Way of Knowing: Empirical, Creative, Social, and Tentative Science is Insufficient for Understanding Some Experiences Science and Technology are Not One and the Same ©Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2012

Limits of Science The scientific study of a work of art, say a picture, may give an exhaustive account of the chemical constitution of the pigments, the wavelengths of the light they reflect, their reflection factors, masses and physical distributions. But such a scientific account has hardly begun to say much of interest to the viewer or to the artist. … It is not that pictures cannot be described in terms of chemicals, or mental activities in terms of brain functions—they can. What is wrong to assert … is that these scientific accounts are the only valid ones there are. ~ Michael Poole ©Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2012

Nature of Science and Diversity Since science is one way of knowing, it should not be used to demean or displace other perspectives Treating science as a special culture suggests that a teacher can help to demystify the world of science The capacity to learn science is unrelated to gender, language, ethnicity, or physical abilities Learning to function and be comfortable within the science culture requires participating in it ©Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2012

Chapter 2 Summary The Nature of Science Explains its CultureScientific Knowledge: Process of Evidence  ExplanationSocially Derived and Tentatively Applied: No Single MethodTheories Serve as Tools for Explaining, Not SpeculatingScience Offers One Way for UnderstandingTreating the Nature of Science as Cross-Cultural ©Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2012