Different People in Different Places

Haira Emanuela Gandolfi

doi:10.1007/s11191-018-9971-1

Abstract

This article presents the results of an exploratory study of students’ knowledge about scientists and countries’ contributions to science, aiming at answering two research questions: “In which ways are students aware of the history of scientific development carried out by different people in different places of the world? What can be influencing and shaping their awareness?” Thus, this study aimed at depicting students’ knowledge about History of Science (HOS), focusing on what they know about science being done by people and communities from different parts of the world and on how this knowledge is constructed through their engagement with school science. An exploratory research was carried out at two multicultural state secondary schools in London, UK, involving 200 students aged 12–15 (58.5% girls, 41.5% boys) and five science teachers. The method involved an initial exploration of students’ knowledge about HOS through an open-ended survey, followed by classroom-based observations and semi-structured interviews with the participants. Results showed a disconnection between remembering scientists and knowing about their work and background, hinting at an emphasis on illustrative and decontextualised approaches towards HOS. Additionally, there was a lack of diversity in these students’ answers in terms of gender and ethnicity when talking about scientists and countries in science. These findings were further analysed in relation to their implications for school science and for the fields of HOS, science education and public perception of science.

Highlights

The inclusion of History and Philosophy of Science (HPS) in school science has been advocated by several science educators and historians (e.g. Collins and Shapin 1989; Matthews 1994; Millar and Osborne 1998; Solbes and Traver 2003; Höttecke et al 2012; Allchin 2014; Garcia-Martinez and Izquierdo-Aymerich 2014) and explored by different academicH
This article presents the results of an exploratory study of students’ knowledge about scientists and countries’ contributions to science, aiming at answering two research questions: BIn which ways are students aware of the history of scientific development carried out by different people in different places of the world? What can be influencing and shaping their awareness?^ this study aimed at depicting students’ knowledge about History of Science (HOS), focusing on what they know about science being done by people and communities from different parts of the world and on how this knowledge is constructed through their engagement with school science
The inclusion of History and Philosophy of Science (HPS) in school science has been advocated by several science educators and historians (e.g. Collins and Shapin 1989; Matthews 1994; Millar and Osborne 1998; Solbes and Traver 2003; Höttecke et al 2012; Allchin 2014; Garcia-Martinez and Izquierdo-Aymerich 2014) and explored by different academic

Summary

Introduction

Gandolfi journals (such as Science & Education and Journal of Research in Science Teaching), conferences (such as those organised by the International History, Philosophy and Science Teaching Group, and by the European Science Education Research Association) and curricular reforms around the world in recent decades. Suggestions of the association between HPS and science education began to gain force more systematically in the post-World War II period, aiming at showing that science is a human enterprise and promoting reflection about the relations established between science, technology and society (Figueirôa 2009). Matthews (1992), for instance, discusses some relevant local initiatives, such as the report written in 1963 by the British Association for the Advancement of Science advocating teacher training in HPS, and a conference on History of Science and Science Teaching organised in 1987 by the British Society for the History of Science. Some countries acted innovatively in relation to HPS, such as the first National Curriculum (from 1989) in England (Taylor and Hunt 2014), which argued that: Pupils should develop their knowledge and understanding of the ways in which scientific ideas change through time and how the nature of these ideas and the uses to which they are put are affected by the social, moral, spiritual and cultural contexts in which they are developed. (NCC 1988, p. 113)

Objectives

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Results