Different People in Different Places

Abstract

This article presents the results of an exploratory study of students' knowledge about scientists and countries' contributions to science, aiming at answering two research questions: BIn which ways are students aware of the history of scientific development carried out by different people in different places of the world? What can be influencing and shaping their awareness?^Thus, this study aimed at depicting students' knowledge about History of Science (HOS), focusing on what they know about science being done by people and communities from different parts of the world and on how this knowledge is constructed through their engagement with school science. An exploratory research was carried out at two multicultural state secondary schools in London, UK, involving 200 students aged 12-15 (58.5% girls, 41.5% boys) and five science teachers. The method involved an initial exploration of students' knowledge about HOS through an open-ended survey, followed by classroom-based observations and semi-structured interviews with the participants. Results showed a disconnection between remembering scientists and knowing about their work and background, hinting at an emphasis on illustrative and decontextualised approaches towards HOS. Additionally, there was a lack of diversity in these students' answers in terms of gender and ethnicity when talking about scientists and countries in science. These findings were further analysed in relation to their implications for school science and for the fields of HOS, science education and public perception of science.

“It's a lot of people in different places working on many ideas”: Possibilities from global history of science to Learning about nature of science

“…Some authors (Erduran, 2014; Gandolfi, 2018, 2019a; Ideland, 2018; Sarukkai, 2016) argue that this sole focus on European examples can propagate an incomplete and unrealistic image of science as purely a European endeavor, and recent empirical studies (Christidou, Bonoti, & Kontopoulou, 2016; Gandolfi, 2018; Gurgel, Pietrocola, & Watanabe, 2014) on students' images of science and scientists seem to support this argument: their findings show that despite living in mostly multicultural societies, students from diverse backgrounds still link historical and contemporary scientific work with “white European” and “lone genius” profiles. This lack of diversity when portraying scientific work and scientists (a “selection bias”) can consequently propagate an image of scientific work as “for the few,” individualized and purely epistemic, missing out on the complexity, limitations, implications, and especially, on the sociocultural aspects of scientific practices (Allchin, 2020; Ideland, 2018).…”

Preservice Teachers’ Experience of History and Philosophy of Science Course: A Phenomenological Research

“…Considering the level of education, the pre-service teachers' lack of prior knowledge of science in Islam, which is indeed part of their own culture, should be inquired. Pre-service teachers must know the importance of their own culture within the world culture and the history of civilisation; they are expected to have an increased interest in the and Philosophy of Science, being inspired by scientists' contributions (Gandolfi, 2018).…”

“…Indeed, related to several branches of science such as history and philosophy, History and Philosophy of Science is defined as the story of the birth and development of science (Kampourakis, 2019). In other words, the teaching process of History and Philosophy of Science involves science's contribution to society and scientists' efforts (Gandolfi, 2018). In this process, it was argued, students realise how science is indeed part of human development (Chapel, 2004).…”

Superando Narciso

“…Nathan Willig Lima e Andreia Guerra Dentro desse contexto, não é qualquer história da ciência ou qualquer perspectiva historiográfica que viabiliza um processo emancipatório. A adoção de histórias das ciências aparece a serviço de um compromisso pedagógico, o que vem sendo defendido na literatura especializada (Moura, Guerra, Camel, 2020;Gandolfi, 2018Gandolfi, , 2019Oliveira, Alvim, 2021). O compromisso, nesse caso, não é com uma concepção política ou epistemológica específica, mas justamente com o fomento da construção coletiva de tais perspectivas.…”