Single Scientific Method Research Articles

ASEAN+3 캠프에 참여한 과학영재들의 과학적 탐구의 본성에 대한 이해수준

This study aimed to investigate what extent science gifted students understand about the nature of scientific inquiry and how their understanding levels differ between Korea and other six Asian countries and among three science majors, physics, chemistry, and biology. For this end, 101 students (60.5%) from the 167 participants at ASEAN+3 science gifted students camp in January 2021 completed the questionnaire of VOSI (Views of Scientific Inquiry; Swartz et al., 2008). The quantitative data collected from the questionnaire were coded as two levels, naive and informed. And two paired items about each view were combined and coded as naive, transitional, and informed. For the results, science gifted students in this study showed that the average ratio of the three views on the nature of scientific inquiry was 42.8% for naive level of understanding and 57.2% for informed level. Among three views with five items, the highest rate of understanding as informed was for the view, ‘Inquiry procedures can influence results.’ while the lowest rate was appeared with the view ‘There is no single scientific method.’ Science gifted students of Korea showed higher rate of informed level about the view, ‘There is no single scientific method.’ than other six Asian countries. But the rest two views were opposite as the understanding ratio of the informed level by other countries were higher than those by Korea. There were distinct differences among three science majors and between Korea and other Asian countries. It was called that further research about scientific gifted students’ understanding of the nature of scientific inquiry should be conducted.

SCIENCE, RELIGION, AND CULTURE

SCIENCE, RELIGION, AND CULTURE

The Territories of Human Reason: Science and Theology in an Age of Multiple Rationalities

The Territories of Human Reason: Science and Theology in an Age of Multiple Rationalities

Particulate matter(s!) – Evaluation of a learning environment regarding scientific investigations by data exploration

How students plan and conduct experimental inquiry has been a major focus in science education research. However, experimental inquiry is not representative for all scientific investigations. So, a focus on experimental inquiry can cause the impression that there is a “single scientific method”. We are currently developing learning environments that focus on another type of inquiry using environmental data from an online data repository. We call this scientific investigation by data exploration. Due to the increased variability in environmental data, ideas of inferential statistics are of extreme importance because causal relationships cannot be directly derived. Hence, the focus of our learning environment is to support students’ skills which are relevant for performing scientific investigations by data exploration. The main goal during the intervention for the students is to identify factors influencing the particulate matter concentration in an Austrian city. In this article, we report the evaluation of our intervention with a cohort of 27 secondary school students. The evaluation shows that students regard particulate matter as a highly interesting. Furthermore, students self-report a high intrinsic motivation during the intervention and feel more informed about the environmental issue of particulate matter after the intervention. However, a few starting points for further improvement of the learning environment were identified and are discussed in this article.

Investigating the diversity of scientific methods in high-stakes chemistry examinations in England

ABSTRACTThe traditional description of “the scientific method” as a stepwise, linear process of hypothesis testing through experimentation is a myth. Although the teaching and learning of the scientific method have been a curriculum and assessment goal, the notion of the ‘scientific method’ itself has been identified as being problematic. Many researchers have recognised there is no single scientific method. However, there does not seem to be any useful guidelines for how best to deal with the nature of scientific methods in school science, including in high-stakes summative assessment. The article presents the use of a framework to illustrate the diversity of scientific methods that goes beyond the traditional limitations of a scientific method, to provide a more comprehensive and inclusive account, including non-manipulative parameter measurements. The framework not only clarifies the definition of scientific methods but also is adapted as an analytical framework to trace how scientific methods are framed in high-stakes chemistry examination papers from three examination boards in England. Such analyses can potentially point to what is emphasised in chemistry lessons, given how instrumental high-stakes testing is for driving teaching and learning. Results from an empirical investigation of examination questions are presented, highlighting an imbalance in the representation of methods in chemistry tests.

Epistemology and Russian Sociology: Interaction in the Development

The notion of ‘epistemology’ in many countries had been already fully accepted and mastered, it had come to replace ‘gnoseology’ and ‘theory of cognition’ to expand the sphere of research of components and regularities in natural, social sciences and the humanities. In our country this shift happened later and became significant for its understanding and evaluation not from the positivistic view of ‘the single scientific method’, but as valuable and the most important forms of knowledge today. Epistemological ideas for social sciences did not just come to us from Europe, but had deep roots in the development of Russian social and historical knowledge. This is confirmed in the history of Russian philosophy and sociology, in particular, by P.L. Lavrov’s and N.K. Mikhailovsky’s ideas that are coming back to us now for today’s understanding of their ideas’ role in the development of social sciences and philosophy. G.G. Shpet had understood and explained the character of Lavrov’s anthropologism, its role in overcoming abstract gnoseologism and positivism. Epistemology of social cognition turns towards integral cognizing human being, and this is guided by deep traditions of Russian philosophy and sociology that come from Herzen, Lavrov, Shpet, Kareev. Research in Mikhailovsky’s ideas and works in the twenty-first century also confirms that, along with Lavrov, he saw many real problems of the social development, of Russian society in particular, and thus he contributed to modern social sciences and Russian social epistemology.

Changes in Students’ Views about Nature of Scientific Inquiry at a Science Camp

Although nature of science (NOS) and nature of scientific inquiry (NOSI) are related to each other, they are differentiated as NOS is being more related to the product of scientific inquiry (SI) which is scientific knowledge whereas NOSI is more related to the process of SI (Schwartz et al. 2008). Lederman et al. (Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 51, 65–8, 2014) determined eight NOSI aspects for K-16 context. In this study, a science camp was conducted to teach scientific inquiry (SI) and NOSI to 24 6th and 7th graders (16 girls and 8 boys). The core of the program was guided inquiry in nature. The children working in small groups under guidance of science advisors conducted four guided-inquiries in the nature in morning sessions on nearby plants, animals, water, and soil. NOSI aspects were made explicit during and at the end of each inquiry session. Views about scientific inquiry (VASI) (Lederman et al. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 51, 65–8, 2014) questionnaire was applied as pre- and post-test. The results of the study showed that children developed in all eight NOSI aspects, but higher developments were observed in “scientific investigations all begin with a question” and “there is no single scientific method,” and “explanations are developed from data and what is already known” aspects. It was concluded that the science camp program was effective in teaching NOSI.

Database assessment of CMIP5 and hydrological models to determine flood risk areas

Solutions for water-related disasters may not be solved with a single scientific method. Based on this premise, we involved logic conceptions, associate sequential result amongst models, and database applications attempting to analyse historical and future scenarios in the context of flooding. The three main models used in this study are (1) the fifth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) to derive precipitation; (2) the Integrated Flood Analysis System (IFAS) to extract amount of discharge; and (3) the Hydrologic Engineering Center (HEC) model to generate inundated areas. This research notably focused on integrating data regardless of system-design complexity, and database approaches are significantly flexible, manageable, and well-supported for system data transfer, which makes them suitable for monitoring a flood. The outcome of flood map together with real-time stream data can help local communities identify areas at-risk of flooding in advance.

Is The Scientific Method a Myth? Perspectives from the History and Philosophy of Science

Many philosophers and historians of science deny that there is a single scientific method that applies across all scientific disciplines. Here I distinguish normative from descriptive versions of this thesis. I defend the thesis that there are general normative principles that govern every science.

A produção do conhecimento nas Ciências Sociais e a provisoriedade da realidade material e simbólica

O presente artigo aborda as polêmicas e contradições que têm acompanhado as discussões acerca da cientificidade no campo das Ciências Sociais e suas controvérsias paradigmáticas no intuito de pensar a realidade social. Advoga a ideia do devir, a historicidade e o caráter ideológico do processo de conhecimento, além da inexistência de um único método científico. Destaca a relação sujeito e objeto no processo de objetivação do conhecimento e do vínculo com o empírico, sem esquecer que a objetividade é a utopia da ciência. Por fim, enfatiza as exigências do método científico, na condição de constituição de métodos rigorosos e flexíveis que consideram a dinâmica e a provisoriedade da realidade material e simbólica.