History of Science and Conceptual Change: The Formation of Shadows by Extended Light Sources

Abstract

This study investigates the eVectiveness of a teaching conXict procedure whose purpose was the transformation of the representations of 12-16-year-old pupils in Greece concerning light emission and shadow formation by extended light sources. The changes observed during the children's eVort to destabilize and reorganise their representations towards a model that was compatible with the respective scientiWc model were studied using three groups of pupils belonging to diVerent age groups. The methodological plan implemented was based on input from the History of Science, while the parameters of the geometrical optics model were derived from Kepler's relevant historic experiment. The eVectiveness of the teaching procedure was evaluated 2 weeks after the intervention. The results showed that the majority of the subjects accepted the model of geometrical optics, i.e. the pupils were able to correctly predict and adequately justify the experimental results based on the principle of punctiform light emission. Educational and research implications are discussed.

Why Implementing History and Philosophy in School Science Education is a Challenge: An Analysis of Obstacles

“…Science educators often have stressed the merits of this approach for teaching and learning about science as a process (e.g. Millar and Driver 1987;Matthews 1994;Allchin 1997a), for promoting conceptual change and a deeper understanding of scientific ideas (Wandersee 1986;Sequeira and Leite 1991;Seroglou et al 1998;Van Driel et al 1998;Galili and Hazan 2001;Pocovi and Finley 2002;Dedes 2005;Dedes and Ravanis 2008), for supporting learning about the nature of science (NoS) (Solomon et al 1992;McComas 2000;Irwin 2000;Lin and Chen 2002;Fernández et al 2002), for fostering public understanding of science (Solomon 1997;Osborne et al 2002), and for positively impacting students' attitudes and interests toward science (Kubli 1999;Heering 2000;Solbes and Traver 2003;Mamlok-Naaman et al 2005). History of science can also provide role models of female scientists to enhance girls' attitudes towards science (Allchin 1997a;Heering 2000;Solomon 1991;Höttecke 2001).…”

Epistemological Beliefs and Philosophical Perspective of the Science and Mathematics Teachers about the Nature of Science

“…The proponents of science often have emphasized the advantages of employing this combination approach for the teaching science and learning as a "process" for the deeper understanding of scientific ideas and conceptual integrity (Seroglou, Koumaras, & Tselfes, 1998;Van Driel, De Vos, & Verloop, 1998;Wandersee, 1986). It also supports the learning and the philosophical perspectives of the NOS (Dedes & Ravanis, 2008;Galili & Hazan, 2001;Irwin, 2000;Lin & Chen, 2002;Solomon, Duveen, Scot, & McCarthy, 1992).…”

Primary School Teacher’s Practices and Student’s Mental Representations: The Learning Objects Option

“…Different Science Education approaches considers the situations of knowledge appropriation simultaneously with the knowledge at stake in these situations (Dedes & Ravanis, 2009;Delclaux & Saltiel, 2013;Fragkiadaki & Ravanis, 2015, 2016Johsua & Dupin, 1993;Sotirova, 2017). Examining ICTE and more specifically the use of LO in education, implies taking into account what is taught just as the way of teaching is inseparable from the instruments used in the classroom activity.…”