In Defense of Realism: It Really \u3cem\u3eIs\u3c/em\u3e Commonsense

“What is truth?” Pilot asked Jesus of Nazareth. For many in academe today this question seems quaintly passé. Rejection of “truth” goes hand-in-hand with the rejection of epistemological realism. Educational thought over the last decade has instead been dominated by anti-realist, instrumentalist ideas of two types: first by psychological constructivism and later by social constructivism. Social constructivism subsequently has been pressed to its logical conclusion in the form of relativistic multiculturalism. Proponents of both psychological constructivism and social constructivism value knowledge for its utility and eschew as irrelevant speculation any notion that knowledge is actually about reality. The arguments are largely grounded in the discourse of science and science education where science is “western” science; neither universal nor about what is really real. The authors defended the notion of science as universal in a previous article. The present purpose is to offer a commonsense argument in defense of critical realism and the epistemically and ontologically distinguished position of science (rather than privileged) within a framework of epistemological pluralism. The paper begins with a brief cultural survey of events during the thirty-year period from 1960-1990 that brought many educators to break with realism and concludes with comments on the pedagogical importance of realism. Understanding the cultural milieu of the past forty years is critical to understanding why traditional philosophical attacks on social constructivist ideas have proved impotent defenders of scientific realism

Culturally Important Issues and Science: A Gender and Science-Interest Investigation

Elementary science methods students nearing completion of their preservice teacher preparation are an important source for gauging views about science and its relation to culture. This research investigates gender and science interest as correlates of the valuation of science vis-à-vis nine culturally important categories as measured by the Thinking About Science Survey. Over one thousand male and female students at a large midwestern university took part in this study. One gender effect and an interest effect were found. Significantly more males expressed a high degree of interest in science, and males were more supportive of the assertion that race and gender are irrelevant in science. Interest in science, however, showed the more pronounced effect. Interest in science for both male and females was directly related to how science was valued with respect to six of the nine culturally important categories. Results suggest science interest might be improved by more contextual teaching approaches that seek to develop the valuation of science within a cultural context

Thinking about Science and Christian Orthodox Beliefs: A Survey Study of Preservice Elementary Teachers

Since its origination with Andrew Dickson White, the Warfare Metaphor has been used to characterize the relationship between science and religion, specifically orthodox Christianity. Though thoroughly discredited by historians of science, the ideological descendants of Thomas Huxley, who spoke of science in quasi-religious terms, have kept the Warfare Metaphor alive. On the other hand, there are substantial numbers of Christians who at least appear to oppose science given their high-profile opposition to the general theory of evolution. The purpose of the research reported in this paper was to examine this specific question: does anti-science sentiment increase with increasing orthodox Christian belief? Two validated, published instruments were used: the Thinking about Science Survey Instrument and the Christian Fundamentalist Belief Scale. The subjects for the study were 545 preservice elementary teachers. The analysis did not show that anti-science sentiment increases with increasing Christian belief. Subjects with strong Christian beliefs were found to be just as supportive of science, if not more so, that subjects with no Christian beliefs. The study concludes with a caution against projecting attitudes toward science based on attitudes toward evolution

Culturally Important Issues and Science: A Gender and Science-Interest Investigation

Elementary science methods students nearing completion of their preservice teacher preparation are an important source for gauging views about science and its relation to culture. This research investigates gender and science interest as correlates of the valuation of science vis-à-vis nine culturally important categories as measured by the Thinking About Science Survey. Over one thousand male and female students at a large midwestern university took part in this study

An Investigation of Preservice Elementary Teachers\u27 Thinking \u3cem\u3eAbout\u3c/em\u3e Science

It is not common to find media reports on the failures of science education; nor uncommon to hear prestigious scientists publicly lament the rise of anti-science attitudes. Given the position elementary teachers have in influencing children, anti-science sentiment amongst them would be a significant concern. Hence, this article reports an investigation where preservice elementary teachers responded to the Thinking about Science survey instrument. This newly developed instrument addresses the broad relationship of science to nine important areas of society and culture and is intended to reveal the extent of views being consistent with or disagreeing with a commonly held worldview of science portrayed in the media and in popular science and science education literature. Results indicate that elementary teachers discriminate with respect to different aspects of culture and science but they are not anti-science

Scientific Worldviews: A Case Study of Four High School Science Teachers

Science education researchers have been interested in a number of factors regarding science teachers. They want to know about gender and race factors, preservice education experiences, achievement in a science major, or teacher views on the nature of science. In the past, these researchers have tended not to think of teachers as cultural beings though this is certainly changing in the way that it has become common to think of students as cultural beings and hence to inquire into the influence of student culture on the learning of science. As humans, science teachers are of course cultural beings; and just like their students, they bring a worldview to the classroom. But surely science teachers bring the scientific worldview to the science classroom? Rather than assuming that science teachers bring the scientific worldview to class, the purpose of this research is first to illuminate the enacted scientific worldviews of four typical high school science teachers. Second, we will argue that science teachers ought to show their enacted scientific worldviews in the science classroom as part of an ongoing classroom discourse promoting student understanding that science can be interpreted and made meaningful in various ways by various individuals, including the science teachers

Defining “science” in a multicultural world: Implications for science education

ABSTRACT: In today’s schools there are often competing accounts of natural phenomena, especially when schools are located in multicultural communities. There are also competing claims about what counts as science. This article examines the definition of science put forward from multicultural perspectives in contrast to a universalist perspective on science; that is, the Standard Account. The article argues that good science explanations will always be universal even if indigenous knowledge is incorporated as scientific knowledge. What works best is still of interest to most, and although one may hate to use the word hegemony, Western science would co-opt and dominate indigenous knowledge if it were incorporated as science. Therefore, indigenous knowledge is better off as a different kind of knowledge that can be valued for its own merits, play a vital role in science education, and maintain a position of independence from which it can critique the practices of scienc