This article offers a retrospective synopsis of 70 years of development of a humanistic approach to science education. Instruction using the history of science, for example, provides a rich context for students to learn not only canonical science content on a need-to-know basis, but also content from the other domains of humanistic science…

Calls for renewal of physics education include more varied learning activities and increased focus on qualitative understanding and history and philosophy of science (HPS) aspects. We have studied an innovative approach implementing such features in quantum physics in traditional upper secondary physics classrooms in Norway. Data consists of 11…

The photoelectric effect is an important part of general physics textbooks. To study the presentation of this phenomenon, we have reconstructed six essential, history and philosophy of science (HPS)-related aspects of the events that culminated in Einstein proposing his hypothesis of lightquanta and the ensuing controversy within the scientific…

Thomas Kuhn has had an impact in all academic fields. In science education, Kuhnian themes are especially noticeable in conceptual change research, constructivist theorizing, and multicultural education debates. Unfortunately the influence is frequently compromised by researchers having a limited understanding of Kuhn's original ideas, little…

Reports on a study investigating changes in the relative emphasis given to different stated science aims during the period 1932-1974. (SL)

Past transformations in science education and circumstances steps of transformation in science teaching. Contemporary issues influencing science education are reviewed in contex with the model producing change are reviewed to develop a model of sequential to demonstrate that contemporary social issues are initating a new transitions in science…

Proposes that an examination of the history of the development of science concepts can reveal conceptual difficulties and guide the development of instructional methods where the student is helped to actively organize information so that he is involved in formulating the concept.'' (AL)

Examines Piaget's learning theories and his endorsement of the biological viewpoints of Jean Baptiste de Lamarck. Particular points in Piaget's theories and their relationships to Lamarck's biology are discussed. (CP)

Presents a historical overview of the development of concept of linkage (collocation of genes on homologous chromosomes), and provides a perspective of the development of two opposing explanatory models of genetic linkage. Author asserts that a historical view can help students recognize that explanatory models are constructs developed over time,…

Reports on a study designed to: (a) understand the nature of science as progressive transitions in heuristic principles; and (b) provide a rationale for the inclusion of three more characteristics of the nature of science to the original five suggested by Smith and Scharmann. Concludes that nature of science manifests in different topics of the…

Responds to "Understanding Nature of Science as Progressive Transitions in Heuristic Principles" by Mansoor Niaz. Concludes that the historical vignettes provided by Niaz provide interesting insights into the nature of science but that the proposed characterizations do not help distinguish things that are more scientific from things that are less…

Presents a review of the literature concerning integrating the history and nature of science and technology in science and social studies curricula. Areas reviewed include the importance of these concepts in education, their place in the current curriculum, and efforts at integrating these concepts. (over 50 references) (PR)

Science policy studies and the social studies of science are two ways to approach science-technology-society (STS) education. This paper applies the two perspectives to STS education and explores the implications of the two approaches for the domain of STS education and the relationship to science education. (YP)

Describes the structure of the observatory built in India in 1710 and shows the relationship of the scientific and geometric principles involved. (AL)