In recent years, researchers have become aware of the experiential grounding of scientific thought. Accordingly, research has shown that metaphorical mappings between experience-based source domains and abstract target domains are omnipresent in everyday and scientific language. The theory of conceptual metaphor explains these findings based on…

The purpose of this dissertation is to argue that while a discussion of the nature of human knowledge might be a worthy goal to pursue in public education, the science classroom is not the appropriate place for this discussion. The concern that no claims to knowledge--including scientific claims--are void of a metaphysical and epistemological…

An examination of artifacts provides insights into the goals, practices, and orientations of the persons and cultures who created them. Here, we analyze storybook texts, artifacts that are a part of many children's lives. We examine the stories in books targeted for 4-8-year-old children, contrasting the texts generated by Native American…

This article traces the early and medieval Islamic scholarship to the development of critical and scientific thinking and how they contributed to the development of an Islamic theory of epistemology and scientific thinking education. The article elucidates how the Qur'an and the Sunna of Prophet Muhammad have also contributed to the…

Communication is an important part of scientific practice and, arguably, may be seen as constitutive to scientific knowledge. Yet, often scientific communication gets cursory treatment in science studies as well as in science education. In Nature of Science (NOS), for example, communication is rarely mentioned explicitly, even though, as will be…

Students' epistemological views about biology--their ideas about what "counts" as learning and understanding biology--play a role in how they approach their courses and respond to reforms. As introductory biology courses incorporate more physics and quantitative reasoning, student attitudes about the role of equations in biology become…

Understanding is widely touted to be of paramount importance for education. This is especially true in science education research and development where understanding is heralded as one of the cornerstones of reform. Teachers are expected to teach for understanding and students are expected to learn with understanding. This dissertation is an…

Most accounts of affect and motivation in the science education literature have discussed them as relevant to, but distinct from, disciplinary pursuits. These include Pintrich's seminal work on affective and motivational factors in learning science (P. R. Pintrich, 1999, 2003; P. R. Pintrich & E. De Groot, 1990; P. R. Pintrich, R. W. Marx,…

In this study, we produced a documentary which portrays scientists at work and critically evaluated the use of this film as a teaching tool to help students develop an understanding of the nature of science. The documentary, "Life as a Scientist: People in Love with 'Caenorhabditis elegans,' a Soil Nematode" encompasses the…

Professional scientists who pursue a teaching credential bring a great deal of background to students in a classroom, but they may have barriers to the ways they portray the field of science. This study used a multiple-case replication design to determine the role of epistemology in lesson plans of seven scientists becoming teachers. Data sources…

This empirical study investigates secondary science teachers' perspectives on science education reform in Taiwan and reflects how these teachers have been negotiating constructivist and learner-centered pedagogical approaches in contemporary science education. It also explores the challenges that teachers encounter while shifting their pedagogical…

This study used a between-subjects experimental design to examine the effects of three different computer-based instructional strategies (concept map, refutation text, and expository scientific text) on science learning. Concept maps are node-link diagrams that show concepts as nodes and relationships among the concepts as labeled links.…

This paper describes an action research study aimed at challenging and changing the epistemological views of pre-service science teachers (PSTs) during a core course on educational psychology in a teacher education programme. The researcher, as an instructor, used this course to provide learning opportunities for PSTs to change their existing…

George Sarton had a strong influence on modern history of science. The method he pursued throughout his life was the method he had discovered in Ernst Mach's "Mechanics" when he was a student in Ghent. Sarton was in fact throughout his life implementing a research program inspired by the epistemology of Mach. Sarton in turn inspired many…

Although the reasons for concern about quality differ from nation to nation, the primary rallying point for science education reform is the perceived level of scientific literacy among a nation's populace. The essential nature of scientific literacy is that which influences students' decisions about personal and societal problems. Beyond this,…