Questions the scientific community's consensus on the epistemological sophistication concerning scientific knowledge. Argues for a distinction between correctness and productivity of an epistemological stance and against certain blanket generalizations about the nature of knowledge and learning that do not attend to context. (Author/MM)

Argues that there is a strong nonrational component in conceptual change, analyzing aspects of the nonrational or aesthetic that are part of the conceptual change process. Shows that the results of Posner et. al. ("Science Education" 66: 211-27, 1982) support this thesis. (Author/JN)

Responds to comments by West and Pines ("Science Education" 67: 37-39, 1983) on rationality and learning. Discusses two views of learning, distinguishes between what learning depends on and what it is, and offers distinctions between rational and nonrational factors in learning. (Author/JN)

The practical epistemology used by students and the epistemological moves delivered by teachers in conversations with students are analyzed in order to understand how teaching activities interplay with the "how" and the "what" of students' learning. The purpose is to develop an approach for analyzing the process of privileging…

This study investigated the ways in which beliefs about the nature of the science vary as a function of an individual's chemistry expertise and chemistry research experience across the range from high-schools students, whose exposure to chemistry occurs in the classroom, to practicing research chemists. Interviews conducted with a total of 91…

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…

Examines the research literature on conceptual change, analyzes the different uses of the term, and discusses six other issues that have emerged from this literature. Outlines a multidimensional framework for considering conceptual change events in the classroom and attempts to synthesize various perspectives of contemporary conceptual change…

Describes current debates over the nature of science in the science curriculum. Illustrates the subtle ways in which epistemological portrayals have been influenced with regard to the public's relationship with institutional science in the United States by using the curricular ideas of John Dewey and Joseph Schwab as an historical perspective.…

Describes a project on labwork at upper secondary and undergraduate levels that was launched in 1996 and funded by the European Commission. Presents new research questions focusing on three objectives: (1) conceptual; (2) epistemological; and (3) procedural. (Contains 28 references.) (Author/YDS)

Criticizes radical constructivism of the Glasersfeld type, pointing out some contradictions between the declared radical principles and their theoretical and practical development. Suggests the possibility of an ideological substratum in the construction and hegemonic success of subjective constructivism, and briefly advances an alternative…

Presents four examples of students engaged in self-directed building projects. Uses the enactivist ideas of enaction, coemergence, mutual specification, and adequate conduct to describe and interpret the four cases. Describes the ways in which personally significant meanings and personal competency emerge within the context of self-directed…

Focuses on two of the principal issues for science curriculum developers who wish to introduce the history and philosophy of science into science teaching along with the justification for and the placement of historical materials within teachers' work schemes. Proposes a new model for inclusion of such material that directly addresses children's…

Argues that the National Science Education Standards is an atheoretical document because it fails to prescribe scientific theories worth knowing, define the role of scientific theories in scientific literacy, or outline a framework to conduct research on the inquiry method. (DDR)

Examines university oceanography students' use of evidence in writing considering the relative epistemic status of propositions comprising student' written texts. Defines the epistemic levels by discipline-specific geological constructs from descriptions of data, to identification of features, to relational aspects of features, to theoretical…