Abandoning Patchwork Approaches to Nature of Science in Science Education

Abstract

The purpose of this commentary onHodson and Wong’s (2017, this issue) article is to clarify the merits of the expanded family resemblance approach (FRA) to science education, briefly alluded to in their article, and to discuss the implications of this approach relative to the question of demarcation they raise. In clarifying themerits of the expanded FRA, we describe its distinct features and how it relates to other approaches presented in their article. We discuss some limitations pertaining to their discussion of the demarcation problem in science education and conclude by pointing out the promising role an FRA approach might play in providing means for distinguishing more fromless scientific fields of inquiry.