The Epistemology of Students: The ‘Thingified’ Nature of Scientific Knowledge

Désautels, Jacques; Larochelle, Marie

doi:10.1007/978-94-011-4940-2_8

Cited by 31 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…the leg of a table as a metaphor to talk about the interplay of several qualities such as sturdiness, weight and support). On the basis of such reflection, dedicating attention to the processes of conceptualization can become a fruitful practice for preventing ourselves from -thingifying‖ nature (Désautels and Larochelle 1998) 1 , meanwhile offering the stimulus for developing awareness of the powers and the limits of our mental processes and our language.…”

Section: Conceptualising Reality: Nominal Vs Verbal Languagementioning

confidence: 99%

“…A concept used outside its original field becomes a powerful tool (Fischer-Kowalski and Amman 2001) for constructing new concepts: such process makes it apparent that there is no real coincidence between concepts and reality, avoiding the risk of ‗thingifying' nature (Désautels and Larochelle 1998), while at the same time encouraging students to make creative use of concepts, by applying them in new realms or inventing new ones and assessing their efficacy.…”

Section: A) Disciplinary Conceptsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Science education for sustainability, epistemological reflections and educational practices: from natural sciences to trans-disciplinarity

Colucci‐Gray

Perazzone

Dodman

et al. 2012

Cult Stud of Sci Educ

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In this three-part article we seek to establish connections between the emerging framework of ‗sustainability science' and the methodological basis of research and practice in science education in order to bring forth knowledge and competences for sustainability. The first and second part deal with the implications of taking a ‗sustainability view' in relation to knowledge processes. The complexity, uncertainty and urgency of global environmental problems challenge the foundations of reductionist, Western science. Within such debate, the proposal of sustainability science advocates for inter-disciplinary and inter-paradigmatic collaboration and it includes the requirements of ‗post-normal science' proposing a respectful dialogue between experts and non-experts in the construction of new scientific knowledge. Such a change of epistemology is rooted into participation, deliberation and the gathering of ‗extended-facts' where cultural framings and values are the hard components in the face of soft facts. A reflection on language and communication processes is thus the focus of knowledge practices and educational approaches aimed at sustainability. Language contains the roots of conceptual thinking (including scientific knowledge) and each culture and society are defined and limited by the language that is used to describe the world and to act upon people and nature. Within a scenario of sustainability, a discussion of scientific language is in order to retrace the connections between language and culture, and to promote a holistic view based on pluralism and dialogue. Drawing on the linguistic reflection, the third part gives examples of teaching and learning situations involving prospective science teachers in action-research contexts: these activities are set out to promote linguistic integration and to introduce reflexive process into science learning. Discussion will focus on the methodological features of a learning process that is akin to a communal and emancipatory research process within a sustainability scenario. *Corresponding author KeywordsSustainability -post normal science -language -action research -initial teacher education Manuscript Click here to download Manuscript: Science education for sustainability_revised_6 sept 2011.doc Click here to view linked References 2 Executive summary (in Italian language)In questo articolo ci proponiamo di evidenziare alcuni collegamenti tra la prospettiva emergente della ‗scienza della sostenibilità' e certi elementi di riflessione critica sui fondamenti epistemologici e metodologici dell'educazione scientifica, proponendo esempi di attività didattiche sperimentate in coerenza con queste riflessioni.Di fronte alla complessità, all'incertezza e all'urgenza delle problematiche ambientali -che hanno ormai assunto una dimensione globale -la moderna tecnoscienza è oggetto di un approfondito dibattito, e da più parti vengono posti degli interrogativi sulle sue basi epistemologiche e sulle sue relazioni e responsabilità con la società e con i sistemi naturali. Al...

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Section: Conceptualising Reality: Nominal Vs Verbal Languagementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A) Disciplinary Conceptsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Science education for sustainability, epistemological reflections and educational practices: from natural sciences to trans-disciplinarity

Colucci‐Gray

Perazzone

Dodman

et al. 2012

Cult Stud of Sci Educ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…21 Nevertheless, my discussion in the next section of DesAutels's two types of moral perceivers is motivated by my own concern regarding what philosophers tend to see or not see as morally salient to discussions regarding colleagues, students, authors, or illustrative examples in texts: gender as an aspect of the discussion.…”

Section: Part One: Moral Perception and Implicit Biasmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…I conceive of a moral perceiver as an agent who notices (either consciously or subliminally) moral features in his or her experience. 17 Note the roles of sense data and previously existing mental structures to provide a context for experiences of perceptions: that data include the presence and effects of implicit bias. As other contributors to this volume discuss in greater detail, implicit bias is characterized by "unconscious biases that affect the way we perceive, evaluate, or interact with people from the groups that our biases 'target' " 18 and "attitudes, stereotypes, and prejudices in the absence of intention, awareness, deliberation, or effort.…”

Section: Part One: Moral Perception and Implicit Biasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender Perception as a Habit of Moral Perception: Implications for Philosophical Methodology and Introductory Curriculum

Norlock

2012

Journal of Social Philosophy

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Evidence is in that philosophy, as a profession, is male-dominated in its membership, and underrepresented groups suggest that systemic and persistent inequities endure. 1 One possible measure to rectify the gender imbalance, and perhaps therefore the climate of the profession, is to increase the number of women in philosophy. Recent research suggests that it is after taking introductory classes that undergraduate women's enrollments drop off sharply; ratios of women receiving doctorates in philosophy seem to be, comparatively, more consistent with numbers of women with undergraduate degrees in philosophy. 2 The authors add, "This suggests that there is an 'intro-major cliff' that is perpetuated through the hierarchy of academia, culminating in the gender gap that we see at the faculty level," and "also suggests that a promising means of closing the gender gap would be to focus on philosophy at the undergraduate level." 3 If future research bears out these findings, then the way we go about designing and teaching our introductory courses may directly influence the gender makeup and the culture of the profession. Solutions to the problem of the intro-major cliff are, on some levels, easily identified. One strategy that feminist philosophers have particularly recommended , to improve introductory curriculum so that courses are more attractive to and retentive of female students, is to include more works by women on syllabi. Especially in "Introduction to Philosophy," our students would benefit because, as Margaret Urban Walker says, "The presence of concerns, texts, and images that acknowledge women within undergraduate classrooms, graduate training, and professional media allow women students to feel that a discipline, literally, comprehends them, that it is a space that they are free to enter and expected to enter." 4 Yet objections to the inclusion of women's work on introductory syllabi are raised, which indicate that the solutions to the intro-major cliff are not so easily accomplished. A standard argument against the inclusiveness strategy (as I call it in this article) is that the deliberate effort to include women's work is driven by emotional and political motives that are detrimental to achieving more valuable peda-gogical goals, such as fairly and accurately representing the canon, and offering selections on the basis of their philosophical quality rather than the identities of their authors; the assumption that gender is irrelevant to philosophy is usually stated or implied in the course of the objection.

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“…Estas concepciones empiro-inductivistas de la ciencia afectan a ios mismos científicos -pues, como explica Mosterín (1990) sería ingenuo pensar que «son siempre explícitamente conscientes de los métodos que usan en su investigación»-así como, lógicamente, a los mismos estudiantes (Gaskell, 1992;Pomeroy, 1993;Roth y Roychondhury, 1994;Solomon, Duveen y Scott 1994;Abrams y Wanderse, 1995;Traver, 1996;Roth y Lucas, 1997;Désautels y Larochelle, 1998b). Conviene señalar que esta idea, que atribuye la esencia de la actividad científica a la experimentación, coincide con la de «descubrimiento» científico, transmitida, p.e., por los cómics, el cine y, en general, por los medios de comunicación, prensa, revistas, televisión, (Lakin y Wellington, 1994).…”

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Alís¹,

Pérez²,

Montoro³

2001

Endoxa (Madr.)

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Cabría suponer que quienes nos hemos formado en una facultad cientí-fica (Biología, Física, Química...) y ejercemos la enseñanza de las ciencias deberíamos haber adquirido -y, por tanto, estaríamos en situación de transmitir-una imagen aceptablemente correcta de lo que supone hacer ciencia.Numerosos estudios, sin embargo, han mostrado que ello no es así y que la enseñanza -incluida la universitaria-transmite, por ejemplo, visiones empiro-inductivistas de la ciencia que se alejan notoriamente de la forma como se construyen los conocimientos científicos (Cleminson, 1990;Matthews, 1991;Stinner, 1992;Hodson, 1993;Pomeroy, 1993; Desaméis et al, 1993;Koulaidis y Ogborn, 1995; Thomaz et al, 1996). No es objeto de este trabajo analizar las razones de esta incoherencia, que remite, en primer lugar, al hecho bien establecido de que la enseñanza científica -incluida, insistimos, la universitaria-se ha reducido básicamente a la presentación de conocimientos ya elaborados, sin dar ocasión a los estudiantes de asomarse a las actividades características de la actividad científica (Yager y Penick, 1983;Burbules y Linn, 1991;Matthews, 1991; Songer y Linn, 1991;Brickhouse, 1994;Solomon, Duveen y Scott, 1994; Hammer, 1995).Ello hace que las concepciones de los estudiantes -incluidos los ftituros docentes-no lleguen a diferir de lo que suele denominarse una imiten

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The Epistemology of Students: The ‘Thingified’ Nature of Scientific Knowledge

Cited by 31 publications

References 27 publications

Science education for sustainability, epistemological reflections and educational practices: from natural sciences to trans-disciplinarity

Science education for sustainability, epistemological reflections and educational practices: from natural sciences to trans-disciplinarity

Gender Perception as a Habit of Moral Perception: Implications for Philosophical Methodology and Introductory Curriculum

Hacia una imagen no deformada de la actividad científica

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