A determination of the scientific attitudes

Abstract

Introduction.The literature relative to the teaching of science, and the formal addresses, the conferences, and the conversations of teachers of science are plentifully sprinkled with vague and veiled allusions to the "scientific attitude." Each mention of this "scientific attitude" conveys the tacit inference that every teacher possesses, as a matter of course, a clear idea of the precise meaning of the term.But a painstaking search of the literature fails to reveal a single instance where an author attempts a clear-cut definition of the "scientific attitude,"or where an author gives a reference to such a definition in any other source.There is frequently manifested, moreover, a confusion of the concept of the scientific method with that of the "scientific attitude."An attempt to construct a statement of the "scientific attitude" from the various references and allusions to it at once reveals the fact that in the minds of the different authors there is no unit concept of scientific attitude, but that there is a more or less nebulous and illy differentiated group-concept of scientific attitudes. Problem This investigation1 represents an attempt to secure a list, as complete and as definite as possible, of the scientific attitudes. Method * An extensive investigation was made of the scientific literature dealing with the philosophic phases of scientific thought, such, for example, as Pearson's "A Grammar of Science," Dewey's "How We Think," Kramer's "The Method of Darwin," etc., for the purpose of securing a list of scientific attitudes. The search revealed a considerable number which in outline form were submitted to fifty high-school and fifty college and university teachers of science. These specialists were requested to mark "E" each item which they considered an essential one in a complete list of scientific attitudes; to mark "D" each item which they considered highly desirable but not essential; and "U" each item which they considered unnecessary or undesirable in such a list. The markers were invited to write in such changes and corrections as they thought desirable, and to add any omitted points or items which they considered essential.Fifty-eight replies were received; two were returned unclaimed.York, Teachers' College Contributions to Education, No. 163. The author has included digests of these studies in "A Digest of Investigations in the Teaching of Science in the Elementary and Secondary Schools," Blakiston & Co., Philadelphia, 1926.

The scientific attitude and science education: A critical reappraisal

“…In science education over the past sixty years a great deal of effort has been devoted to identifying the nature of the scientific attitude and most of this work has been based on detailed analyses of the writings of scientists, philosophers of science, and science educators (Curtis, 1926;Noll, 1933a;Davis, 1935;Crowell, 1937;Ebel, 1938;Lampkin, 1938;Vitrogan, 1967Vitrogan, , 1969Nay and Crocker, 1970;Cohen, 1971). In a number of cases, the results of these analyses were submitted to panels of scientists or science teachers to obtain estimates of the relative value of each component of the scientific attitude arising from the analyses.…”

The Measurement of Achievement in High School Chemistry

“…Dust scattered through the air will explode if ignited or raised to its kindling temperature. 4. Finely powdered substances will not explode when floating in air unless they are ignited or raised to their kindling temperature.…”