Experimental Natural Sciences Research Articles

Learning Science at University in Times of COVID-19 Crises from the Perspective of Lecturers—An Interview Study

The COVID-19 pandemic changed higher education radically and challenged faculties to adapt their teaching to the new circumstances. The aim of this study is to highlight changes, in particular, the advantages and disadvantages associated with them, and to find out what conclusions were drawn for the future in the three experimental natural sciences of biology, chemistry, and physics at the University of Konstanz (Germany). In a guided interview, the majority of the university teachers in the bachelor’s programs were interviewed, and their statements were subsequently categorized. While lectures and tutorials in distance learning were held asynchronously or synchronously online, laboratory courses used a variety of formats. The number of disadvantages cited, as well as the number of university faculty citing the same disadvantage, is greater than for advantages. The most commonly cited drawbacks fall into the areas of workload, communication, feedback, and active student participation. Physical presence and a return to the original learning objectives in the lab courses is wanted by the majority. The results point to commonalities between the science subjects and should encourage science departments to work together on similar problems in similar formats in the future. Furthermore, there is an urgent and ongoing need for the training of natural science teachers in competence-oriented digital teaching.

The importance of using information and communication technologies in the educational process of natural science disciplines

The article considers the features of teaching experimental natural science disciplines based on the use of modern information and communication technologies, relevance of classical practical classes with the staging of experiments on living organisms. Using a survey of the university’s teaching staff, the most frequently used electronic and digital resources were identified, which can help to conduct laboratory or practical classes in natural sciences in an online format. Several problems related to the computerization of laboratory work are considered. The necessity of virtual laboratory work in distance learning is justified. The main types of virtual laboratory classes are listed, and the advantage of using such classes as a good source of knowledge and material for analysis is shown. The analysis of the state of the available virtual laboratories for conducting classes is given. For students of biological educational programs, problem topics in the discipline “vertebrate zoology” are defined. The authors draw attention to the fact that, in creating virtual laboratories in biological disciplines, it is possible to implement a system of trilingual education. The article also provides recommendations for the creation of virtual laboratories in the discipline “vertebrate zoology”. The authors conclude that introducing information and communication technologies in the process of training specialists in natural sciences contributes to the effective formation of their readiness for professional activity.

The incomprehensible effectiveness of logic, or The scandal of Francis Bacon’s true induction

We take seriously a statement of Francis Bacon (1561-1626) that what is he creating is no new philosophy, but a new logic. The demarcation of the disciplinary boundaries of the experimental natural science and the new logic, ‘the art of questioning and interpreting nature’, turns out to be the key task of the grandiose reform of scientific knowledge initiated by his ‘Novum Organum’, the 400-th anniversary of which was celebrated in 2020. Bacon proposes his ‘logic of discovering’ including the true induction as the first part of the four parts of logic three other parts of which have been invented before him. This task involves a design of a double transition, from the experimental data in the ‘lower axioms’ though the ‘middle axioms’ to a particular logical system with its ‘higher axioms’, and vice versa, from the logical system to the experimental data. We consider Bacon's true induction as a conceptual technology for eliminating of the ‘vague abstractions’ in a conversation with nature about the truth. Based on the generalization of data from the examples of presence, absence, and degree, the true induction through the data refinement and validation relates its outcomes to probabilistic and plausible reasonings about reasonings. Technological devices of Baconian conceptual design are constructed to provide the imperfect cognitive agent with instructions for the interface design of sequential step-by-step ascent through the levels of abstraction from initial experimental data to true knowledge, thus presumably guaranteeing the comprehensible effectiveness of logical knowledge.

A BRIEF NOTE ON MINERAL EVOLUTION AND BIOCHEMISTRY

The natural inorganic materials (minerals and rocks) exceed the limits of the Earth. Therefore, the geology, which is the study of the Earth, represents only a small part of the natural inorganic world. Certain questions about the genesis of the universe are related to the evolution of our solar system and the evolution of life on our planet. In this paper, recent contributions from experimental physical natural-sciences to the formation of the universe (about 15 billion BP) coupled with the occurrence of minerals (4 million years BP) and the biochemical appearance of life (not more than 3 million years) on the Earth are discussed. When Earth was formed, none of the more than 4,400 minerals we know today were existed. Cosmologists estimate that nearly ten billion years after the Big Bang the first elements produced by the melting process. The geological history of mineral evolution on the Earth is an interesting tool to study terrestrial and/or extraterrestrial mineralogy in regard to astronomy, biology, chemistry and other experimental natural sciences.

MİNERAL GELİŞİMİ VE BİYOKİMYA HAKKINDA KISA NOT

The natural inorganic materials (minerals and rocks) exceed the limits of the Earth.Therefore, the geology, which is the study of the Earth, represents only a small part of thenatural inorganic world. Certain questions about the genesis of the universe are related tothe evolution of our solar system and the evolution of life on our planet. In this paper, recentcontributions from experimental physical natural-sciences to the formation of the universe(about 15 billion BP) coupled with the occurrence of minerals (4 million years BP) and thebiochemical appearance of life (not more than 3 million years) on the Earth are discussed.When Earth was formed, none of the more than 4,400 minerals we know today were existed.Cosmologists estimate that nearly ten billion years after the Big Bang the first elementsproduced by the melting process. The geological history of mineral evolution on the Earthis an interesting tool to study terrestrial and/or extraterrestrial mineralogy in regard toastronomy, biology, chemistry and other experimental natural sciences

Experimental PHY/CHE: Class teachers’ experiences of experimental natural science lessons

The LUMA Centre of Central Finland (LUMA-KS) is a development project coordinated by the Faculty of Mathematics and Science of University of Jyväskylä. LUMA-KS is part of the National LUMA network, and its aim is to support and promote the learning, studying, and teaching of natural sciences, mathematics, computer sciences, and technology on all levels of education, especially in the region surrounding University of Jyväskylä.
 The goal is to help children and youth to see the general significance of mathematics, natural sciences, and information technology behind the modern society and in everyday life. One of the essential parts is to promote study and career options in the fields of natural sciences and mathematics. LUMA-KS actively supports teachers and student counselors in matters related to teaching and studying, and advances the studying of these subjects by motivating pupils and students. This article presents three different activities arranged by LUMA-KS. After each activity, gathered feedback from participating class teachers are presented.

Promoting HPT Innovations A Return to Our Natural Science Roots

The core innovations represented by the field of Human Performance Technology (HPT) trace their origins, by way of Programmed Instruction, to the field of Behavior Analysis, a natural science methodology for the study of behavior developed by B.F. Skinner. This methodology, like all experimental natural science, rests on a foundation of functional analysis and standard units of measurement. Functional analysis is basic experimental method, whereby the investigator or practitioner keeps all but one variable constant, changes the variable in question (an “intervention”), and measures the effect on other variables. Behavior Analysis, like HPT, emphasizes prediction and control of individual behavior rather than determination of average effects across groups of individuals. In order for HPT to support and encourage greater and more effective innovation, it must re-emphasize reliance on standard units of measurement and functional analysis and promote policies and procedures that increase variation of interventions. The combination of encouraging variation and selecting interventions by means of functional analysis and objective measurement will ensure steady, reliable progress in Human Performance Technology.

On the Logic of the Social Sciences. Jürgen Habermas , Shierry Weber Nicholsen , Jerry A. StarkThe Material Realization of Science: A Philosophical View on the Experimental Natural Sciences, Developed in Discussion with Habermas. Hans Radder

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsOn the Logic of the Social Sciences. Jürgen Habermas , Shierry Weber Nicholsen , Jerry A. Stark The Material Realization of Science: A Philosophical View on the Experimental Natural Sciences, Developed in Discussion with Habermas. Hans Radder Patrick A. HeelanPatrick A. Heelan Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Isis Volume 82, Number 1Mar., 1991 Publication of the History of Science Society Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/355719 Views: 2Total views on this site Citations: 1Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1991 History of Science Society, Inc.PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article: John Neu Current Bibliography of the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences, 1991, Isis 82 (Oct 2015): 1–271.https://doi.org/10.1086/356021

Technical evolution in the clinical laboratory

Abstract

The Syntax of Action

(The Editors are pleased to have the opportunity of publishing this paper, which deals in general terms with the analysis of social interaction and its relation to the analysis of language, because they believe it has very significant implications for the study of classroom behaviour.) Social Psychology is a peculiar science. Its task is to describe what is already familiar, and to explain events whose genesis seems unproblematic. And yet it is not entirely pointless. Although we all know the basic facts of our everyday life, and we know that we know them, we are often at a loss when we try to relate them to a general structure. At the moment, for example, I know where I am and what I am doing. I even think I know why I am doing what I am doing, but when I consider the general question of how my activities are selected from moment to moment I can only think of vague generalisations. These generalisations are very often incorrect in that counter-examples exist, and they are certainly inadequate in that no amount of generalised introspection on my part will produce a set of principles capable of simulating my selection of activities from moment to moment. It is as if some systematic process were at work which can determine which courses of action are appropriate given a set of circumstances, but which cannot make its own procedures available for scrutiny. In short we can think of the orderliness of behaviour as the familiar product of an inaccessible process. In that case the central task of social psychology would be to accept the molecular insight we all share about those behavioural sequences and structures which are sensible, and to try to infer the kind of generative and interpretive processes which could give rise to such structure. Note that there is no question at this stage of discovering the actual process at work, but only of devising and classifying those icons (Harre, I975) which are generatively adequate. Clearly this is not an experimental issue. The point is not to discover the actions which follow from certain manipulable circumstances, but rather to create a system of generative operations or rules which will explicitly and formally reproduce our commonsense judgements about sensible combinations of circumstances and action. In that respect the problem is more akin to those of mathematics or generative linguistics than to those of the experimental natural sciences. We know as native social actors that a particular set of actions would be reasonable (or profitable or socially acceptable) in certain circumstances, just as a native speaker knows that certain strings of morphemes are well-formed (or semantically coherent) sentences. Similarly the native social actor and the native speaker share an ignorance of the general patterns to which their specific judgements conform. It is precisely this paradoxical derivation of specific judgement from tacit knowledge that generative linguistics seeks to explore. The counterpart in social psychology would be an attempt to produce a generative grammar of social action which would simulate a given