Two autowire versions for CDC-3200 and IBM-360

Microelectronics program was initiated to evaluate circuitry, packaging methods, and fabrication approaches necessary to produce completely procured logic system. Two autowire programs were developed for CDC-3200 and IBM-360 computers for use in designing logic systems

Teaching and learning about epistemic insight

Epistemic Insight is a research and education initiative that is seeking to establish effective ways to help school students to appreciate the power and limitations of science. In particular, the idea is that experiences and explanations devised by a teacher who is focused on what happens inside the science classroom might not be interpreted as intended by students – who in turn are ‘generalists’ moving from subject to subject and in and out of school

Shattering the subject silos: learning about big questions and epistemic insights

What insights do we expect future citizens to call on when they encounter new opportunities and challenges? How can schools best prepare students to make decisions rationally and compassionately in an increasingly technological and interconnected world? Education to date has tended to focus on helping students to master key concepts drawn from knowledge we already know. Our choices about what to teach have been shaped around objectives we can test. The agenda for schools going forward is to teach and assess a deeper understanding of how to construct and test knowledge, both within and also across disciplinary boundaries (OECD 2018). Research conducted has clarified some of the gaps and misperceptions that currently exist in students’ ideas and reasoning about scholarship and knowledge (Billingsley et al 2013). For example, secondary students can confidently describe activities they expect to do in science lessons, however, their confidence wanes if asked to frame a question that is a good one to investigate scientifically. Some of the gaps in students’ epistemic insight (or ‘knowledge about knowledge’) arise because teaching and testing begins at the point where questions are already organised into subjects, topics and individual lessons. The Epistemic Insight Initiative is a response to pedagogical pressures and barriers like curriculum fragmentation which rob students of expertise that the curriculum says they should have. The Initiative includes a curriculum framework of key ideas about the nature of knowledge for each age group from primary to secondary that provide strategies to develop students’ curiosity and insight into different types of questions including big questions that bridge science, religion and the wider humanities (Billingsley et al 2018)

Secondary school students' reasoning about science and personhood

Scientific advances, genetics, neuroscience and artificial intelligence, present many challenges to religious and popular notions of personhood. This paper reports the first large-scale study on students' beliefs about the interactions between science and widely held beliefs about personhood. The paper presents findings from a questionnaire survey (  = 530) administered to English secondary school students (age 15-16) in which their beliefs and concepts regarding personhood and the position of science were investigated. The survey was motivated in part by an interview study and a previous, smaller survey which revealed that many students struggle to reconcile their beliefs with what they suppose science to say and also that some have reluctantly dismissed the soul as a 'nice story' which is incompatible with scientific facts. The results from this larger-scale survey indicate that a majority of the students believe in some form of soul. Even so, and regardless of whether or not they identified themselves as religious, most students expressed a belief that human persons cannot be fully explained scientifically, a position that some students perceived as a partial rejection of what it means to hold a scientific worldview. [Abstract copyright: © The Author(s) 2021.

The role of biology teachers in epistemically insightful health and wellbeing education: a case study of the English relationships, sex and health education curriculum

In the period following a global pandemic, the promotion of health and wellbeing is a priority area for schools. This accompanies growing calls for health and wellbeing education to be delivered through a whole-child/whole-school approach that connects across subject areas. While it may be clear to most people that a purely scientific sexuality education is undesirable, it is also clear that biology plays a vital role in developing students’ understanding about a variety of health and wellbeing topics, including those around sex, sexuality and sexual health. In this article, we explore the contribution of the biology teacher to an integrated health and wellbeing education in schools through a case study comparison of the English Relationships, Sex and Health Education curriculum and the English biology curriculum. Biology teachers in England and many other national and regional jurisdictions operate in a compartmentalised system which can create frustration and anxiety for both students and teachers when navigating the complexities of how sensitive topics are delivered in different disciplinary siloes. Epistemically insightful approaches, conceptualised at the macro-, meso- and micro-level of school organisational structures, may provide a way for biology teachers and educational leaders to address and overcome some of these challenges

Preparing students to engage with science‐ and technology‐related misinformation: The role of epistemic insight

Helping students to become more resilient to online misinformation is widely recognised as an essential task for education in a rapidly digitalising world. Students need both scientific knowledge and epistemic insight to navigate online spaces containing sensationalised reports of scientific and technological developments. Epistemic insight involves epistemic curiosity and the ability to think critically about the nature, application and communication of knowledge. This includes developing an understanding of the power and limitations of science and a curiosity regarding its relationship with other disciplines. We present a workshop designed for school students aged 16–18 titled ‘Can science and technology cure loneliness?’, designed to develop students' epistemic insight through investigating loneliness through a multidisciplinary perspective. We discuss how the design and pedagogy of this workshop might help students to build epistemic humility—the recognition that no single disciplinary perspective can complete our knowledge about a given topic. As part of a broader programme, epistemic insight-based pedagogies have the potential to develop students' resistance to science- and technology-related misinformation and prepare them for their potential role in shaping our scientific and technological future

Epistemic insight and classrooms with permeable walls

The boundaries between subject disciplines in secondary education today make it difficult for students to see their subjects in context. However, examining the secondary curriculum in England shows that there are a wealth of opportunities for making links and helping to develop students’ epistemic insight and scholarly thought. This article provides concrete examples of these opportunities and offers a view into ongoing research by the LASAR Centre at Canterbury Christ Church University (UK), which supports teachers in bridging subject boundaries through a strategy called Classrooms with Permeable Walls