WEEK #5WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM THE SCIENTISTS?

SCI 613 – Nature of Science

Quick review

Philosophy

• How science should happen

• Scientific logic – inductive vs. deductive (problematic)

• Realism vs. anti-realism• Demarcation - Falsifiability• Observations are theory-

laden• Paradigms

History

• How science did happen• Human endeavor – can

learn from failed science• Non-linear progression of

science (fits and starts)• Paradigms and

revolutions (normal science)

• What science is.. Changes.

Quick review

Sociology of science

• Communities – organization (institutions), validation, peer review

• Religion and culture• Government – Is

democracy necessary? (No.)

• Political influence.• Funding.

Science studies

• Knowledge is socially constructed.

• Inscriptions• Transformations• Representations• Circulating reference (i.e.,

need to be reversible)

For this week…

Read Grinnell’s Everyday Practice of Science (Ch. 1-3). Prepare:

• Summary notes on Section I (Ch. 1-3).

• A list of a minimum of 10 quotes that a) best represent the author's position and/or b) were the most useful to you in understanding the text.

K-12

Philosophy

Science studies

HistorySociology

Scientists

Scientific practices

Nature of science

PedagogyStandards

Inquiry

Academia

To start things off…

• What experiences doing science do you have?

• How does this affect your current/future teaching?

• What kind of authentic science experiences would you like to have?

• If not from doing science, where can you as an educator learn about how science is done?

Who is Frederick Grinnell

• Ph.D. in biochemistry (Tufts, 1970)

• On faculty at UT Southwestern Medical School

• Made major contributions to the cellular chemistry of wound repair

• Also wrote on bioethics• This book was a finalist in

the 2010 Royal Society Book Prize competition.

Framing the conversation

• Q: Why study actual practice?

AuthenticInquiry

In Science

InquiryIn the

ScienceClassroom

Graduate School

Undergraduate

High School

Elementary School

Framing the conversation• If one goal of science education is to provide a relatively

authentic image of scientific investigations, then we need to understand what really happens in science (i.e., how scientific knowledge is constructed).

• A debate we will have: general vs. discipline-specific

• For now: Let’s just look at science-in-the-making and figure out how to approximate is in a classroom later.

Some important concepts…• The scientific method• Objectivity• Credibility• Real vs. School Science• Transformation of “discovery claims”• The scientific paper• Peer-review• The role of the scientific community

Quotes• Link quotes to the appropriate chapters• (5 minutes!)

What’s are the important take-home messages about how science works?

• 3 Groups:

▫ Chapter 1 – Practicing Science

▫ Chapter 2 – Discovery

▫ Chapter 3 – Credibility

(10 minutes prep – prepare quick summary)

1 – Practicing Science

World tobe studied

Individualscientists

Researchcommunity

Discovery Credibility

2 - Discovery

3 - Credibility

Putting it all together…• The scientific method• Objectivity• Credibility• Real vs. School Science• Transformation of “discovery claims”• The scientific paper• Peer-review• The role of the scientific community

Science-in-action report

How does today’s discussion help you

prepare for your science-in-action

report?

Due Week #12

What should be on the final?

Write 2-3 questions from today that would be appropriate for the

final exam

For next week…• Read one of these two articles:

• Wong & Hodson (2009) “From the horse’s mouth: What scientists say about scientific investigation and scientific knowledge” (online)

• Wong & Hodson (2010) “More from the horse’s mouth: What scientists say about science as a social practice” (on campus)

• Be prepared to summarize the findings next week.

• Also, choose an episode of the Life Scientific podcast that looks the most interesting to you. Be prepared to 1) describe what this scientists does and 2) let us know what about how science works can be pulled out of this interview.

Classroom context paper• Due Week #7 (October 15th)• 2-3 pages max (single spaced)• Purpose: To synthesize the first 1/3rd of the course into

generalizations about what science is and how it works for use in your classroom (at whatever level).

• What can you lift out of the readings and discussions so far that would be relevant in MS, HS or College?

• Feel free to use the examples on the back as starting points.• Remember, you must provide support for your claims from

the readings.• Use APA style. Search for ‘owl APA’ if you need help. (our

syllabus has citations for many of the readings)

Pale blue dot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wupToqz1e2g