Skip to main content
Log in

Briging it all back home: some implications of recent science and technology studies for the classroom science teacher

  • Literature and Implications
  • Published:
Research in Science Education Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this paper, we support the validity of drawing from science studies to reshape science education. While true educational reform must involve alternative curricular structures, we stress that we do not propose here either a comprehensive curricular framework or a report on a pilot classroom project, as our research perspective comes from science studies rather than from education. Instead this paper is intended to encourage educators to draw from methodologies used in science studies to further their goals in education research and in classroom teaching. First, we examine theoretical connections and divergences between science studies and theories of education. Secondly, we discuss the benefits of teaching science as a social process and offer some suggestions that can be introduced by classroom teachers into pre-existing science curricula.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allchin, D. (1995). How not to teach the history of science. In F. Finlay, D. Allchin, D. Rhees, & S. Fifield (Eds.),Proceedings of the Third International History, Philosophy, and Science Teaching Conference (pp. 13–22). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allchin, D. (1997). Rekindling phlogiston: From classroom case study to interdisciplinary relationships.Science and Education, 6, 473–509.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berger, P., & Luckmann, T. (1966).The social construction of reality: Treatise in the sociology of knowledge. New York: Doubleday.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bloor, D. (1973). Wittgenstein and Mannheim on the sociology of mathematics.Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science, 4, 173–191.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bloor, D. (1976).Knowledge and social imagery. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bombaugh, R., Ralston, S., Sowder, H., & Shiner, J. (1995). Helping non-traditional students challenge implicit assumptions about the nature of science through supervisory work. In F. Finlay, D. Allchin, D. Rhees, & S. Fifield (Eds.),Proceedings of the Third International History, Philosophy, and Science Teaching Conference (pp. 156–166). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burdett, P. (1989). Adventures with N-rays: An approach to teaching about scientific theory and theory evaluation. In R. Millar (Ed.),Doing science: Images of science in science education. London: Falmer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Collins, H. (1985).Changing order: Replication and induction in scientific practice. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Collins, H., & Pinch, T. (1993).The golem: What everyone should know about science. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Costa, S. (1995, October).“Our” notation from their quarrel: The Leibniz-Newton controversy as embodied in calculus textbooks. Paper presented at the annual History of Science Society Meeting, Minneapolis MN.

  • Countryman, J. (1992).Writing to learn mathematics. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cunningham, C. (1995). The effect of teachers' sociological understanding of science on classroom practice and curriculum innovation. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. (Dissertation Abstracts International, 56, 2542A)

    Google Scholar 

  • Dear, P. (Ed.). (1991).The literary structure of scientific argument. Philadelphia: Pennsylvania University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dear, P. (1985). Totius in verba: Rhetoric and authority in the early Royal Society.Isis, 76, 145–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eisenhart, M., Finkel, E., & Marion, S. (1996). Creating the conditions for scientific literacy: A re-examination.American Educational Research Journal, 33, 261–295.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ellerton, N. F., & Clements, M. A. (in press). Transforming the international mathematics education research agenda. In E. Kelly, & R. Lesh (Eds.),Innovative research designs in math and science education. [Page numbers refer to unpublished draft of article.]

  • Flannery, M. (1995). “Science, technology and the public in the nineteenth century”:” How to select science content for an interdisciplinary course. In F. Finlay, D. Allchin, D. Rhees, & S. Fifield (Eds.),Proceedings of the Third International History, Philosophy, and Science Teaching Conference (pp. 379–388). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flower, M. (1995). Conceiving science education as a practice of technoscientific liberty. In F. Finlay, D. Allchin, D. Rhees, & S. Fifield (Eds.),Proceedings of the Third International History, Philosophy, and Science Teaching Conference (pp. 389–409). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.

    Google Scholar 

  • Geison, G. (1995).The private science of Louis Pasteur. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glen, W. (1982).The road to Jaramillo: Critical years of the revolution in earth science. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glen, W. (Ed.). (1994).The mass-extinction debates: How science works in a crisis. Stanford: Standford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gough, N. (1992, April).Laboratories in schools: Material places, mythic spaces. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA.

  • Holmes, F. (1987). Scientific writing and scientific discovery.Isis, 78, 220–235.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, G. (1997). Research traditions in comparative context: A philosophical challenge to radical constructivism.Science Education, 81, 355–375.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, G., Cunningham, C., & Carlsen, W. (1993). Science education in sociocultural context: Perspectives from the sociology of science.Science Education, 77, 207–220.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klotz, I. M. (1980). The N-ray affair.Scientific American, 242(5), 122–131.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn, T. (1970).The structure of scientific revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kumar, A., & Brown, R. (1995). Teaching science from a world-cultural point of view. In F. Finlay, D. Allchin, D. Rhees, & S. Fifield (Eds.),Proceedings of the Third International History, Philosophy, and Science Teaching Conference (pp. 648–635). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.

    Google Scholar 

  • Latour, B. (1987).Science in action. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Latour, B., & Woolgar, S. (1979).Laboratory life: The construction of scientific facts. Beverly Hills: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewenstein, B. (1996). Life on Mars... And in science.Mercury: Journal of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 26, 24–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Longino, H. (1990).Science as social knowledge. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Magnusson, S., & Templin, M. (1995). Scientific practice and science learning: The community basis of scientific literacy. In F. Finlay, D. Allchin, D. Rhees, & S. Fifield (Eds.),Proceedings of the Third International History, Philosophy, and Science Teaching Conference (pp. 687–698). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.

    Google Scholar 

  • Matthews, M. (1992). History, philosophy, and science teaching: The present rapprochement.Science and Education, 1, 11–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McComas, W. (1995). A thematic introduction to the nature of science: An analysis of the rationale, content and impact of a philosophy of science course for science teachers. In F. Finlay, D. Allchin, D. Rhees, & S. Fifield (Eds.),Proceedings of the Third International History, Philosophy, and Science Teaching Conference (pp. 726–737). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milne, C., & Taylor, P. (1995). Practical activities don't talk to students: Deconstructing a mythology of school science. In F. Finlay, D. Allchin, D. Rhees, & S. Fifield (Eds.),Proceedings of the Third International History, Philosophy, and Science Teaching Conference (pp. 788–801). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mulkay, M. (1986).On humour. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nott, M., & Wellington, J. (1995). Probing teachers' views of the nature of science: How should we do it and where should we be looking? In F. Finlay, D. Allchin, D. Rhees, & S. Fifield (Eds.),Proceedings of the Third International History, Philosophy, and Science Teaching Conference (pp. 864–872). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piaget, J. (1970).Genetic epistemology. New York: Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pimental, G. C. (1963).Chemical education material study: Chemistry, an experimental science. San Francisco: Freeman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Redman, J. D. (1996). Conversations about counting. In D. Schifter (Ed.),What's happening in math class (Vol. 2, pp. 113–126). New York: Teachers College Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roth, W.-M., & McGinn, M. K. (1997). Science in schools and everywhere else: What science educators should know about science and technology studies.Studies in Science Education, 29, 1–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roth, W.-M., McGinn, M. K., & Bowen, G. M. (1996). Applications of science and technology studies: Effecting change in science education.Science, Technology & Human Values, 21, 454–484.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shapin, S., & Schaffer, S. (1986).Leviathan and the air pump: Hobbes, Boyle, and scientific method. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sismondo, S. (1993). Some social constructions.Social Studies of Science, 23, 515–53.

    Google Scholar 

  • Solomon, J., & Aikenhead, G. (1994).STS education: International perspectives on reform. New York: Teachers College Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sutton, C. (1989). Writing and reading in science: The hidden messages. In R. Millar (Ed.),Doing science: Images of science in science education (pp. 137–159). London: Falmer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Traweek, S. (1988).Beamtimes and lifetimes: The world of high energy physics. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • von Glaserfeld, E. (1984). An introduction to radical constructivism. In P. Watzlawick (Ed.),The invented reality: How do we know what we believe we know? (pp. 17–40). New York: Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • von Glaserfeld, E. (1989). Cognition, construction of knowledge, and teaching.Synthese, 80, 121–140.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • von Glaserfeld, E. (1995). A constructivist approach to teaching. In L. P. Steffe, & J. Gale (Eds.),Constructivism in education (pp. 3–15). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vygotsky, L. S. (1962).Thought and language. Cambridge, Mass: MIT.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vygotsky, L. S. (1978).Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Costa, S., Hughes, T.B. & Pinch, T. Briging it all back home: some implications of recent science and technology studies for the classroom science teacher. Research in Science Education 28, 9–21 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02461639

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02461639

Keywords

Navigation