Mass conservation in chemical reactions : the development of an innovative teaching strategy based on the history and philosophy of science

A detailed analysis of recent Portuguese Curricular Reform materials (low secondary school, 13-15 years old students) shows that the topic of "mass conservation in chemical reactions" is a central one. However, the proposed teaching approach is a traditional one, emphasizing the learning of isolated concepts and science processes. New and different teaching approaches are necessary and these must consider the history and the philosophy of science, so that aspects related to the context of discovery are also considered. This is an important point in the light of new Science Education aims, which take into account the development of adequate images of science and scientific knowledge. The main aim of this study is to present and discuss a new teaching approach based on research carried out in the last four years. The main lines of the approach presented is epistemologically based on the New Philosophy of Science. It departs from the combustion reactions and their contemporary economical, environmental, social and political contexts (exploring STS perspectives in the teaching of science). Its exploration is centred upon the context of oxygen theory discovery and the main teaching aims are discussed. Strategies, activities and materials used are presented and their educational purposes are accounted for with reference to the theoretical framework developed. Internal evaluation based on feedback of the two teachers who developed the strategy and of the students involved converge towards the acknowledgment of the interest of the new proposal. [Chem. Educ. Res. Pract. Eur.: 2000, 1, 201-215]

Improving chemistry and geology teaching : the development and implementation of a science teacher education model based on the history and philosophy of science

Actual perspectives of the History and Philosophy of Science (HPS) abandon positivists views and bring into relief a more humanized idea of science which is socially and culturally involved. The main difficulty when transposing the post-positivist ideas from the scope of HPS to science education centers on the lack of a proper education of the teachers (Matthews, 1994). The hypothesis of this study was that it is possible to design a teacher education program (TEP) based on HPS in order to improve the teaching of scientific topics. A TEP was developed following three interrelated phases: a naturalistic study was conducted throughout the teaching of a selected scientific topic by each of the participating teachers (two Geology teachers and two Chemistry teachers with the topics Continental Drift and Mass Conservation); a structured TEP based on each of the scientific topics which were considered to be epistemologically relevant and, in the third phase, teaching practices were implemented-and-evaluated which resulted from the education in HPS, acquired by the teachers as they carried out the necessary didactics transpositions on the selected topic. The instrument of teaching practices analysis considered the following categories: Scientific Methodology, Dynamics of Scientific Knowledge Construction, Human and Social Face of Science. Globally, the results suggests that the proposed model of teacher education is more in line with science education goals. After the TEP the images transmitted by the teachers can be considered closer to the framework of HPS

La enseñanza de las ciencias y la formación de profesores de enseñanza primaria para la reforma curricular : de la teoría a la práctica

This papers presents a qualitative study aiming to investigate how new Portuguese curriculum proposals from primary school (the intentional curriculum) are translated in the teaching of science of four prospective teachers (the operational curriculum). The research adopted a case study methodology in order to describe main features of the pedagogical profile of classroom practices of those teachers. Three different profiles were identified. Some interpretative aspects are outlined and important implications for pre-service education are put forward

Main orientations of science education research and research types : a critical analysis of the most influential papers (1993-2002)

In the last few years, there has been a trend inside the Science Education Research (SER) community to analyze the “health” of SER (e.g. Fensham, 2004; Gilbert, 1995; Horton et al. 1993; Jenkins, 2000; Millar & Osborne, 1998). Our aim is to explicit the relationship between the main orientations of science education research (for practice or theory) with research type (categories defined by Tsai & Wen, 2005, e.g. empirical, theoretical, position papers and revision research). The corpus of the selected papers was formed by the most influential SER papers in the period between1993-2002. Two main criteria were used to select the papers: i) Papers published in three of the most important international SER journals (SE - Science Education, JRST - Journal of Research in Science Teaching and IJSE - International Journal of Science Education); ii) Papers of a restricted group of “more times cited” in each year. We identified the 152 most influential papers: 43 from SE; 73 from JRST; and 36 from IJSE. Our analysis show that the empiric research type prevails among all main orientations of SER (for practice, for theory or for policy). Only a small group of studies is concern to find and make explicit the reference points of Science Education field. This work may contribute to transpose the fragmentation obstacle of present SE knowledge. A good start point would be characterize what we know about SE and identify the persistent problems and the new problems

Do estado da arte da pesquisa em educação em ciências : linhas de pesquisa e o caso “Ciência-Tecnologia-Sociedade”

Neste artigo apresenta-se parte de um estudo mais amplo que pretende contribuir para uma melhor compreensão do estado da arte da pesquisa em Educação em Ciência através da análise crítica dos artigos mais citados, publicados ao longo de uma década (1993-2002), em três das revistas de maior circulação internacional. Evidencia-se como evoluíram as principais linhas de pesquisa, sendo possível realçar uma tendência para o enfraquecimento de linhas centradas na Psicologia da Educação, como a aprendizagem de conceitos, e para o fortalecimento de linhas centradas na Filosofia e Sociologia da Ciência e em abordagens multidisciplinares. O caso da linha CTS é disso um bom exemplo, pelo que induziu uma análise mais pormenorizada

Química nova na escola: um caso de sucesso

Seguindo uma sugestão dos editores da QNEsc para marcar este seu vigésimo aniversário, apresentam-se, neste estudo, contributos para uma melhor compreensão do papel tido da revista na valorização da educação em química em Portugal. Tais contributos podem ser organizados em dois grandes grupos segundo a sua pertinência para o ensino/formação ou para a investigação e têm por base quer a experiência de outros colegas por meio de registros que me foi possível consultar, quer a minha extensa experiência profissional. Os resultados mostram que a QNEsc tem uma penetração não negligenciável na educação em química em Portugal e um grande potencial de afirmação, em particular, no ensino e no apoio à formação de professores. A terminar, apresentam-se sugestões de melhoria para reflexão da direcção da revista.Química Nova na Escola: a successful story. Following a suggestion from editors of QNEsc to mark its twentieth anniversary, this study presents contributions to a better understanding of the role of QNEsc in fostering Chemical Education in Portugal. Such contributions can be organized into two major groups according to their relevance to the teaching or to the research and are based both on the experience of other colleagues and in my extensive professional experience. The results show that the QNEsc has a non-negligible influence in Chemical Education in Portugal and a great potential of affirmation, in particular in chemistry teaching and in teacher education. Finally, suggestions of improvement for reflection of the direction of the journal are presented

Visiones deformadas de la ciencia transmitidas por la enseñanza

Numerosas investigaciones han mostrado que la enseñanza de las ciencias, incluso en el nivel universitario, apenas proporciona ocasión a los estudiantes de familiarizarse con las estrategias características del trabajo científico. Como consecuencia de ello las concepciones de los estudiantes, e incluso de los mismos profesores, acerca de la naturaleza de la ciencia no difieren de la visiones ingenuas adquiridas por impregnación social. En este trabajo se argumenta la importancia de estas visiones deformadas como uno de los principales obstáculos para la renovación de la enseñanza de las ciencias y se analiza la atención concedida por la investigación didáctica al conjunto de deformaciones y reduccionismos.Many studies have shown that science education, even at university level, rarely gives students the opportunity to practise the strategies characteristic to the scientific approach. This results in the fact that students' and even science teachers' conceptions about the nature of science don't differ from so-called «folk» or «naïve» views, acquired by social impregnation. In this paper we discuss the importance of these distorted views as one of the main obstacles to renewal movements in science education and we analyse the attention paid by science education research to the different distortions and reductionisms

Concepciones de futuros profesores del primer ciclo de primaria sobre la naturaleza de la ciencia : contribuciones de la formación inicial

Research studies have showen that the image of science that students construct during their formal learning is strongly influenced by the teacher's conceptions about the nature of scientific knowledge. It is then fundamental to investigate the impact of initial teacher's education in the development of those conceptions in future teachers. The aim of this article is to present a study about the contribution of the three year initial teacher education, of basic education teachers (1st cycle - 6/10 years olds), in the development of their conceptions about the nature of science. The results show that the initial teacher education, as it has been developed in teacher training institutions, does not significantly influence the ideas held by future teachers about the nature of science

Papel de la tecnología en la educación científica: una dimensión olvidada

El actual movimiento en pro de una 'alfabetización tecnológica' ha venido a cuestionar algunos supuestos implícitos en la orientación de la educación científica que se traducen, de facto, en el olvido de la dimensión tecnológica. En este trabajo se analizan dichos supuestos y se extraen algunas implicaciones que representan un enriquecimiento de la educación científica con la incorporación de aspectos esenciales hasta aquí ignorados. Se pretende, así mismo, mostrar la existencia de una convergencia básica en torno a unas propuestas de enseñanza-aprendizaje de las ciencias que superen las estrategias basadas en la simple transmisión-recepción de conocimientos, subrayando la contribución de la dimensión tecnológica al desarrollo de dichas propuestas

Technology as 'Applied Science': a Serious Misconception that Reinforces Distorted and Impoverished Views of Science

The current consideration of technology as 'applied science', this is to say, as something that comes 'after' science, justifies the lack of attention paid to technology in science education. In our paper we question this simplistic view of the science-technology relationship, historically rooted in the unequal appreciation of intellectual and manual work, and we try to show how the absence of the technological dimension in science education contributes to a na¿ ve and distorted view of science which deeply affects the necessary scientific and technological literacy of all citizens