Editing Science education (section)

==Pedagogy==
While the public image of science education may be one of simply learning facts [[by rote]], science education in recent history also generally concentrates on the teaching of science [[concept]]s and addressing [[Scientific misconceptions|misconception]]s that learners may hold regarding science concepts or other content. [[Thomas Kuhn]], whose 1962 book ''[[The Structure of Scientific Revolutions]]'' greatly influenced the [[post-positivist]] philosophy of science, argued that the traditional method of teaching in the natural sciences tends to produce a rigid [[mindset]].<ref>[[Mary Douglas]] (Ed.). [1970] (2013) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=UbUUBP4CQowC&pg=PR22 Witchcraft confessions and accusations]''. Routledge, p.xxii</ref><ref>Thomas, D. (1979). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=-mY4AAAAIAAJ Naturalism and social science: a post-empiricist philosophy of social science]'', p.174. CUP Archive.</ref>

Since the 1980s, science education has been strongly influenced by constructivist thinking.<ref>Tobin, K. G. (1993). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=I63bgCXrkzIC The practice of constructivism in science education]''. Psychology Press, preface ''Constructivism: A Paradigm for the Practice of Science Education'', p.ix</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1008650823980|doi = 10.1023/A:1008650823980|year = 1997|last1 = Matthews|first1 = Michael R.|title = Introductory Comments on Philosophy and Constructivism in Science Education|journal = Science & Education|volume = 6|issue = 1|pages = 5–14| bibcode=1997Sc&Ed...6....5M |s2cid = 142437269}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Keith S. |last=Taber |title=Progressing Science Education: Constructing the Scientific Research Programme into the Contingent Nature of Learning Science |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=96tslSL3UfwC |year=2009 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-90-481-2431-2}}</ref> [[Constructivism in science education]] has been informed by an extensive research programme into student thinking and learning in science, and in particular exploring how teachers can facilitate conceptual change towards canonical scientific thinking. Constructivism emphasises the active role of the learner, and the significance of current knowledge and understanding in mediating learning, and the importance of teaching that provides an optimal level of guidance to learners.<ref>{{cite book |author=Taber, K.S. |chapter=Constructivism as educational theory: Contingency in learning, and optimally guided instruction |chapter-url=https://camtools.cam.ac.uk/wiki/eclipse/Constructivism.html |editor=J. Hassaskhah |title=Educational Theory |publisher=Nova |year=2011 |isbn=9781613245804 }}</ref>

According to a 2004 Policy Forum in ''[[Science (journal)|Science]]'' magazine, "scientific teaching involves active learning strategies to engage students in the process of science and teaching methods that have been systematically tested and shown to reach diverse students."<ref>Jo Handelsman, Diane Ebert-May, Robert Beichner, Peter Bruns, Amy Chang, Robert DeHaan, Jim Gentile, Sarah Lauffer, James Stewart, Shirley M. Tilghman, and William B. Wood. (2004). "[http://scientificteaching.wisc.edu/documents/ScientificTeaching.pdf Scientific Teaching]." Science 304(5670, 23 April), 521-522.</ref>

The 2007 volume ''Scientific Teaching''<ref>Jo Handelsman, Sarah Miller, and Christine Pfund.  (2007). [http://scientificteaching.wisc.edu/books.htm ''Scientific Teaching''].  Madison, WI; Englewood, CO; and New York: The Wisconsin Program for Scientific Teaching, Roberts & Company, and W.H. Freeman.</ref>  lists three major tenets of scientific teaching:
<blockquote>
*'''[[Active learning]]''': A process in which students are actively engaged in learning.  It may include inquiry-based learning, cooperative learning, or student-centered learning.
*'''Assessment''': Tools for measuring progress toward and achievement of the learning goals.
*'''Diversity''':  The breadth of differences that make each student unique, each cohort of students unique, and each teaching experience unique.  Diversity includes everything in the classroom: the students, the instructors, the content, the teaching methods, and the context.
</blockquote>

These elements should underlie educational and pedagogical decisions in the classroom. The "[[SCALE-UP]]" learning environment is an example of applying the scientific teaching approach.  In practice, scientific teaching employs a "backward design" approach.  The instructor first decides what the students should know and be able to do (learning goals), then determines what would be evidence of student achievement of the learning goals, then designs assessments to measure this achievement.  Finally, the instructor plans the learning activities, which should facilitate student learning through scientific discovery.<ref>D. Ebert-May and J. Hodder. (2008)[http://www.sinauer.com/detail.php?id=2221 ''Pathways to Scientific Teaching'']. Sinauer Associates, Inc.</ref>

=== Guided-discovery approach ===
Along with [[John Dewey]], [[Jerome Bruner]], and many [[Discovery learning|others]], [[Arthur Koestler]]<ref>{{Cite book|title=Act of Creation|last=Koestler|first=Arthur|publisher=Hutchinson|year=1964|location=London|pages=265–266}}</ref> offers a critique of contemporary science education and proposes its replacement with the guided-discovery approach: <blockquote>To derive pleasure from the art of discovery, as from the other arts, the consumer—in this case the student—must be made to re-live, to some extent, the creative process. In other words, he must be induced, with proper aid and guidance, to make some of the fundamental discoveries of science by himself, to experience in his own mind some of those flashes of insight which have lightened its path. . . . The traditional method of confronting the student not with the problem but with the finished solution, means depriving him of all excitement, [shutting] off the creative impulse, [reducing] the adventure of mankind to a dusty heap of theorems.</blockquote>Specific hands-on illustrations of this approach are available.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/teaching_methods/guided_discovery/examples.html|title=Guided discovery problems: Examples (in: Teaching Methods: A Collection of Pedagogic Techniques and Example Activities)|last=Carleton University}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Nissani |first=Moti |title=Science exercises and instructional materials: Teaching science as if minds mattered! |url=http://drnissani.net/mnissani/pagepub/SCIEX.htm}}</ref>