Using the History of Science in Science Education: Inquiring

about Inquiry.

Jerrid W. KruseSo. Sioux City Middle School

Iowa State University

What is inquiry?

What skills does inquiry promote?

What skills does inquiry promote?

• Identifying and refining questions.• Data collection.– Measurement, units,

• Data organization.– Tables, graphs,

• Drawing conclusions.• Making inferences.• Working cooperatively.

Why inquiry?

Why inquiry?

• Improved understanding of science content• Motivating• Multidisciplinary• Increase understanding of nature of science

Why HOS in science education?

Why HOS in science education?

• Improved understanding of science content– Greater mental connections– Deeper processing

• Motivating– Interesting and achievable

• Multidisciplinary• Increased understanding of nature of science

What is the “nature of science”?

• Nature of the beast.• That is just human nature.• What is the nature of your question?

• Nature of science refers to the assumptions of science, how science works and what scientists are like.

Inquiry does not equal nature of science!• Inquiry is a teaching/learning strategy, whereas

the nature of science is content to be learned.• Nature of science concerns how science works,

while inquiry concerns working like scientists.• Like metacognition is thinking about thinking,

nature of science requires inquiring about scientific inquiry.– What kind of evidence do scientists use? How is this

evidence different from historical evidence? Under what circumstances do scientists not use evidence?

Inquiry vs. Nature of Science

Scientific Inquiry- Teaching/learning strategy - Content to be learned- Students think like scientists - Students think about scientists.- Seeks to understand the natural - Seeks to understand process of

world science- Students practicing science - Students practicing philosophy- Characteristics of nature - Characteristics of scientists- Asks question about nature - Asks questions about scientists

Yet, as we shall see, we can use students’ inquiry experiences to help them understand the nature of science.

Nature of science

NOS ideas worth learning.• Scientists do not follow “the scientific method”.• Experimental vs. Observational Science.• Scientists work collaboratively.• Theories do not become laws….EVER.• Science requires creativity and imagination.• Science ideas can change.• Culture affects science.• Science & technology are related, but not same.• Science does not use supernatural explanations.• Scientists are biased.• Science takes time.

Why NOS?

• Improved understanding of science concepts.• Citizenship and cultural literacy.• Increased interest in science.• You are teaching a nature of science anyway.– Why not teach an accurate view of the science

process?

How can HOS promote understanding of NOS?

Example

• How was the story like putting together a puzzle?

• Why do you think some scientists did not accept the ideas right away?

• What, other than observations, did scientists use to come up with explanations?

• Why did the ideas change over time?

What benefit is gained for student learning from the story?

HOS as inquiry about Inquiry• Historical stories serve as the data on which

students might develop the ideas of NOS.• Like collecting mass, volume, and floating data

might help teachers lead students to density, historical episodes can help teachers lead students to NOS ideas.

• Connecting the historical episodes to prior experiences further encourages students to deeply understand how science and scientists work.

NOS Reflection Continuum (Clough, 2006)

• Black-box, puzzles, magic tricks.– Students able to engage easily.– No content demands, so students more easily

reflect on process.• Inquiry investigations of science content.– Students acting more like real scientists.– Students reflect on process, making connections to

black-box activities.• Historical examples.– Real scientists’ stories are more difficult to dismiss.– Connect scientists’ work to their own work/process.

History & inquiry are not enough

• Just like we don’t expect students to “discover” the formula for density, we should not expect them to “discover” the nature of science.

• Inquiry or history alone has been demonstrated as ineffective for increasing students NOS understanding (Abd-El-Khalick &

Lederman, 2000).

What things did you see me doing to increase engagement with the story?

.

Teacher Actions• Verbal– Questions to draw attention to NOS.• “How did religious views of time affect Galileo’s work?”

– Questions to connect prior experiences.• “How was Watson and Crick’s use of models like things

you have done in class?”

• Non-verbal– Wait-time– Expressions– Movement

Summary• We all teach nature of science. Accurately???• Inquiry is not enough for students to deeply

understand how science works.• Historical episodes can be used to encourage

students to think about how science works.• Students must be encouraged to reflect on

how historical episodes fits with their own experiences.

• The teacher must actively encourage deep reflection concerning how science works.

• What questions do you have?

• What things confuse you?

Thank You.

• Resources– www.storybehindthescience.org– Iowa Science Teacher Journal, Spring 2008– science-stories.org– jerridkruse@gmail.com