Nature Of Scientific Work Research Articles

A three-dimensional conceptualization of authentic inquiry-based practices: a reflective tool for science educators

ABSTRACT Authenticity is a term that has become ubiquitous within the field of science education, particularly when it relates to the practices of science. These practices are a key feature of science education reform documents in the US. However, a common definition of just what makes for the authentic doing of science is hard to come by and certainly lacks consensus. In this paper, the case will be made for a new framework building upon and updating prior conceptualizations that could be utilised by science teacher educators, science teachers, and science education researchers to classify the authentic nature of scientific work generally and that is performed in the science classroom specifically. The framework consists of three dimensions. These are the similarities between the practices that students engage in and those employed by professional scientists, the degree to which the activity is meaningful to the learner, and the extent to which the work is significant to others. Examples of classroom activities will be discussed in terms of these three dimensions. It is believed that the tools provided by this framework will have applications that will serve to encourage science teachers as they strive to implement authentic scientific practices in their classrooms.

Framing the transit: expeditionary culture and identities in Lieutenant E.J.W. Noble's caricatures of the 1874 transit of Venus expedition to Honolulu

SummaryMaking use of a source previously unknown to historians, this article sheds new light on the British expedition to the Sandwich Islands to observe the 1874 transit of Venus. This source, a series of caricature drawings that follow the expedition from departure to return, gives insight into expeditionary culture and the experience of a previously unremarked member of this astronomical expedition, Evelyn J.W. Noble, a career officer of the Royal Marine Artillery. It also reveals overlapping military, scientific and masculine identities, developed in dialogue with, and often deliberately subverting, more public accounts. The article explores this unique source as a product of naval, imperial and expeditionary cultures; as a contribution to the wide textual and visual culture that surrounded the transit expeditions; and as a series of drawings that united the expedition members through the use of humour and irony, by differentiating the group from others they encountered, and by reflecting or rejecting ideas about the nature of scientific work and personae. The artist represented himself not as a serving officer but as part of a (mostly) united group, dedicated to but humorously self-deprecating about their contribution to the scientific effort.

Reconceptualizing Elementary Teacher Preparation: A case for informal science education

The purpose of this case study was to explore the ways in which 3 different informal science experiences in the context of an elementary methods course influenced a group of prospective elementary teachers' ideas about science teaching and learning as well as their understandings about the role of informal science environments to teaching and learning. In order to address this question, data were collected in a period of an academic semester through the following sources: journal entries for each of the 3 experiences, a personal teaching philosophy statement and a 2-hour long semi-structured interview with each of the 12 participants. Open coding techniques were used to analyze the data in order to construct categories and subcategories and eventually to identify emerging themes. The outcomes of the analysis showed that the inclusion of informal science experiences in the context of teacher preparation has the potential to support beginning elementary teachers' development of contemporary ideas about science teaching and learning related to inquiry-based science, the nature of scientific work and the work of scientists, connecting science with everyday life, and making science fun and personally meaningful. These findings are discussed alongside implications for policy, teacher preparation, and research under these themes: (a) addressing reform recommendations; (b) developing positive orientations toward science and science teaching; and (c) constructing understandings about scientists' work.

Science 2.0 (change will happen….)

In this paper we outline some of the main trends and changes we consider will affect science over the next 20 years, mainly driven by a new socio-technological paradigm, which results from the use of information and communication technologies. We first analyze three main trends (growth of scientific authorship; growth in scientific publishing; growth in data availability and processing) which are already visible now but will grow exponentially in the coming decades and will thus affect the dynamics of science.
 
 We then frame the above changes in the context of the transformation of the scientific production and publication conditions -- seen as production process of a cultural good -- which then feedback into the nature of science itself. Finally, we will take together these interrelated growth trends of authors, publications and data and pinpoint their profound and multiple impacts on the very nature of scientific work and its professional dynamics, in terms of increased openness, instability and inequality.

Ten Types of Scientific Progress

In the opening chapters of Progress and Its Problems, Laudan presents a taxonomy of scientific accomplishments that has become very well-known among philosophers of science (Laudan 1977). I wish to point out some important omissions in this taxonomy and to recommend an alternative scheme. I believe that the distinctions I have drawn among scientific tasks are philosophically more interesting than Laudan’s. But I am not prepared to defend this opinion in detail. My chief claim is that the new taxonomy is demonstrably closer to being exhaustive. So far as I know, it is exhaustive, although I would not be greatly surprised to discover oversights. A major benefit of Laudan’s scheme was that it called attention to conceptual (as opposed to empirical) activities in science which had frequently been left out of account in generalizations about the nature of scientific work.

Statistical Significance Tests

presents excellent cautionary remarks concerning the use of such tests, and the author urges that they be given less emphasis. I agree wholeheartedly with Cowger's recommendations. However, I am greatly concerned that his cautions might be taken out of context by those who are ideologically opposed to scientific formalisms or by those who fail to understand Cowger's arguments within the context in which they are presented. In order to perhaps temper any proclivity to misuse Cowger's splendid work, I would like to point out that he called attention to a technical error I made in a publication of some years ago. The importance of this arises from the fact that Cowger's justified criticism of my work is an excellent example of the self-corrective nature of public scientific efforts. It is important to note that Cowger does not argue that we dispose of hypothesis testing altogether. He strongly suggests, however, that such tests be understood and used properly. Those who read, study, and understand Cowger's article will be less likely to make such mistakes in the future. Moreover, Cowger's own scientific efforts, if heeded, will promote the self-corrective nature of scientific work in our profession.

The Imperial German Archaeological Institute

Few English scholars have an exact knowledge of the history, the constitution, and the labours of the German Archaeological Institute, although the existing science of classical archaeology may be roughly said to be a creation of that Institute. So when, some months ago, an authoritative paper by Professor Michaelis of Strassburg, a member of the Central Direction, appeared in thePreussische Jahrbücher, supplying exactly such information on these matters as should be current among us, the Editors of this Journal thought that the opportunity thus offered was one of which advantage should be taken. Accordingly permission was obtained from Professor Michaelis and the Editors of theJahrbücherto publish in these pages a translation of the article. The translation was undertaken by Miss Alice Gardner; and Professor Michaelis has himself made some additions to the text to fit it more completely for an English audience. [ED.]Scientific institutions, which take their functions seriously, live a silent life. This is a result of the very nature of scientific work, which in most points of its manifold occupations cannot appeal to a wide public. Only in case of especially important discoveries, or of conspicuous performances, and on festal occasions do such institutions step out of their quiet round of work into public light, and demand the sympathy of wider circles.