This article offers a new interpretation of Piaget's decanting experiments, employing the mathematical notion of equivalence instead of conservation. Some reference is made to Piaget's theories and to his educational legacy, but the focus in on certain of the experiments. The key to the new analysis is the abstraction principle, which…

In Study 1, 72 internet documents containing creationism, ID (intelligent design), or evolution content were selected for analysis. All instances of proof cognates (the word "proof" and related terms such as "proven", "disproof", etc.) contained within these documents were identified and labeled in terms of the manner in which the terms were used.…

The problem of how people process novel and unexpected information--"deep learning" (Ohlsson in "Deep learning: how the mind overrides experience." Cambridge University Press, New York, 2011)--is central to several fields of research, including creativity, belief revision, and conceptual change. Researchers have not converged…

Following an ever growing literature which takes serious the relevance of case-studies in the history of science for science education and understanding of science, I provide a detailed historical reconstruction of the Cavendish Experiment, which remains as close as possible to the original. In this paper, I call attention to three educational…

This study describes the possible variations of thought experiments in terms of their nature, purpose, and reasoning resources adopted during the solution of conceptual physics problems. A phenomenographic research approach was adopted for this study. Three groups of participants with varying levels of physics knowledge--low, medium, and high…

Evolution was a difficult topic to tackle when writing books for the young in the wake of the controversies over Darwin's "Origin of Species." Authors who wrote about evolution for the young experimented with different ways of making the complex concepts of evolutionary theory accessible and less controversial. Many authors depicted presented…

I advance some novel arguments for the use of historical experiments in science education. After distinguishing three different types of historical experiments and their general purposes, I define "complementary experiments", which can recover lost scientific knowledge and extend what has been recovered. Complementary experiments can help science…

The decomposition of water by electricity, and the voltaic pile as a means of generating electricity, have both held an iconic status in the history of science as well as in the history of science teaching. These experiments featured in chemistry and physics textbooks, as well as in classroom teaching, throughout the nineteenth and twentieth…

In a regional young-earth creationist museum, objects are presented as if they speak for themselves, purportedly embodying proof that the earth is less than 10,000 years old, that humans have lived on earth throughout its history, and that dinosaurs and humans lived simultaneously. In public lectures, tours, and displays, museum associates…

Newton's experiments into the resistance which fluids offer to moving bodies provide some insight into the way he related theory and experiment. His theory demonstrates a way of thought typical of 17th century physics and his experiments are simple enough to be replicated by present day students. Newton's investigations using pendulums were…

This paper considers thought experiment as a special scientific tool that mediates between theory and experiment by mental simulation. To clarify the meaning of thought experiment, as required in teaching science, we followed the relevant episodes throughout the history of science paying attention to the epistemological status of the performed…

James Clerk Maxwell "translated" Michael Faraday's experimentally-based field theory into the mathematical representation now known as "Maxwell's Equations." Working with a variety of mathematical representations and physical models Maxwell extended the reach of Faraday's theory and brought it into consistency with other…

Eight chemistry textbooks written from 1758 to 1891 have been analyzed for the way they present the chemistry of the oxides of tin. This analysis gives insight into the foundation of a number of chemical ideas such as nomenclature and composition used in modern chemistry. Four major preparation techniques for the production of tin oxides emerge…

The model-based view (MBV) of science education, which strives for authenticity in science teaching, is currently seeking support from the philosophical positions related to the Semantic View of Theories (SVT). These recent advances are promising steps towards establishing a robust philosophical framework, but they need revision in so far as they…

The notions of "idealisation" and "approximation" are strongly linked to the question of "how our theories represent the phenomena in their scope". Although there is no consensus amongst Philosophers on the nature of the process of idealisation and how it affects theoretical representation, at the level of science education much can be gained from…