Teaching with Historical Models

Abstract

As the first section of this book has shown, science is a special branch of knowledge that includes not only models and theories but also the processes through which scientific knowledge is produced. Assuming the relevance of scientific literacy to the citizens of the twenty-first century, it is important that their education aims at an understanding of (i) the structure of scientific knowledge, (ii) what the conduct of science involves and (iii) the limitations of scientific knowledge in a given context, as well as the development of the skills with which to develop reliable scientific knowledge. In Hodson’s (1992) words, the purposes of science education should be learning science, learning about science and learning to do science.