This book describes major events in the history of the creationism/evolution controversy in the United States. While writing these chapters, the author visited key places and museums (e.g., the Scopes Trial Museum, Arlington National Cemetery), interviewed important participants in court cases (e.g., Susan Epperson, Don Aguillard), and studied…

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…

Reviews and evaluates the contribution of historical studies in science education with particular reference to the case of England and Wales, where there are a series of challenges that threaten to undermine the enterprise as a whole. Contains 67 references. (DDR)

While it is a commonplace in the historiography of electricity that itinerant lecturers and instrument makers were "somehow" part of the "electrical flare" of the 18th century, very little is actually known about them, about their background, their careers and their self-understanding. Yet, research focusing on these…

I explore the emergence of science and scientific method as political constructs in the 19th century and argue that the associated rhetoric continues to have significant consequences for contemporary school science education. It allows science to be promoted as a coherent curriculum component and fosters an untenable but enduring notion of a…

United States patents are a source of historical information with many implications for science teaching. Using patents as science teaching devices has been largely ignored by science educators. Some of these devices can be easily modified for use in today's classrooms; in addition, patents serve as great examples of how our knowledge of science…

This is the seventh in the fourth series of general bibliographies developed to disseminate information on documents analyzed at the ERIC Information Center for Science and Mathematics Education. Reported are 48 citations on Science and Society, of Science and Mathematics Education, 46 on Science and Mathematics History, and 49 citations of…

With the emergence in physics of relativity and quantum theories in the first decade of this century a paradigm shift took place from a predominantly mechanistic to a dynamic world view. This shift formed the basis of the New Science Movement, including the new physics, in the 1970s. The movement is international, interdisciplinary, dynamic, and…

On May 10, 1950, President Truman signed the bill creating the National Science Foundation (NSF). The act provided for a National Science Board to be created and the law directed the agency to encourage and develop a national policy for the promotion of basic research and education in the mathematical, physical, medical, biological, engineering,…

Discusses the nature of man and considers various definitions of the meaning of human being. Concludes that to preserve the uniqueness of man we need to preserve his diversity. (BR)

Discusses the origins of the President's Science Adviser and his Science Advisory Committee and the National Science Foundation. (RH)

The attempts of scientists to detect the existence of the medium of ether are traced. (DT)

Using the Velikovsky affair, the author describes how scientists are often constrained by their own ideas and sometimes have difficulty observing phenomena from a new point of view. (BR)