Abstract
The research asked to what extent students enjoin scientific knowledge vis-à-vis other domains of knowledge in a discussion about Nature, given that science is unarguably relevant to the topic of Nature; and yet, Nature is a topic that most people do not explicitly associate with science? Moreover, the research asked what are the concepts that appear to have scope and force in the thinking on this topic? The answers from the research are stated in assertions that begin in this chapter. The four assertions discussed in Chapter 5 are assertions specifically related to science.
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Notes
All of the names are gender-sensitive pseudonyms.
Natural philosophers and scientists have historically presupposed the existence of order, pattern, and regularity in Nature as a necessity for the development of any meaningful explanation and knowledge of natural phenomenon. In one of our pilot studies, a biology professor volunteered the following: “A more scientific impression of Nature, you know, well, I like to look at Nature as being orderly. Although people don’t like this word, Nature is orderly but I know there is some discussion about that. My first impressions are always from observations and I can see the order in Nature. Gee whiz, what terrific things! You can’t explain everything, but these are what you can explain in Nature that Nature is an orderly process. Volcanic activity is a progression of events that can be predictable. There are patterns. There are patterns from the level of the cell all the way up to the order of a community. You know, so I think it is, it is orderly. Nature is something you can observe and measure so it’s very real and you can see the order in it, you can measure it. You can predict it. The fact that you argue about Nature doesn’t mean that it’s not knowable. You can understand the basic processes of Nature. It is knowable. I dont think that we necessarily know everything, but Nature is knowable. The processes can be worked out. And, yes, Nature is very diverse but it can be orderly and still be very diverse.” Or, as one eminent physicist succinctly wrote, “I do not for a moment believe that the marvelous order science discerns is an order that scientists impose upon the flux of experimental experience” (Polkinghorne, 1996, p. 107). Even Chaos Theory is about recognizing order where there appears to be nothing but chaos, and on the other hand, recognizing the limitations of order in Nature. Hence, this presupposition of natural order is one aspect of atypical scientific worldview (AAAS, 1993).
The notion of “grade success” was suggested by the teacher/researchers in this study, recognizing that grades do not always reflect knowledge and understanding of the course objectives. We simply checked student records to see if their past and present science grades had typically been “As and Bs,” “Cs,” or less.
The notion that there is a single scientific worldview or single nature of science or single philosophy of science employed by scientists is at best a problematic notion. Notions of this sort, however, are readily found in most science curriculum and framework documents, which is why I have used the notion of a scientific worldview in this study. The results of this study, on the other hand, suggest that setting some notion of a “scientific worldview” or “scientific outlook” as a key curriculum goal is itself problematic. The concept of “order” in Nature is similarly problematic but I think ultimately of much more importance.
Assertion #6, discussed in the next chapter (page 56), is a closely related assertion specifically addressing aesthetics and Nature.
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© 2000 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Cobern, W.W. (2000). Science and Conceptualizations of Nature. In: Everyday Thoughts about Nature. Science & Technology Education Library, vol 9. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4171-0_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4171-0_6
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