Stephen Klassen

Stephen Klassen
University of Winnipeg · Faculty of Education

PhD

About

27
Publications
84,747
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1,142
Citations
Additional affiliations
September 1969 - present
University of Winnipeg
Position
  • Professor (Associate)

Publications

Publications (27)
Chapter
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A presente obra é a reunião de estudos de temáticas como Ensino-Aprendizagem, História, Filosofia e Sociologia da Ciência que são de interesse em linhas de pesquisa da área de Ensino. O livro reúne estudos epistemológicos e pesquisas teórico-experimentais no campo do Ensino de Ciências. Contempla elementos como a discussão da natureza do conhecimen...
Article
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It is a little known fact that the scientist who was a key figure in assembling the first “atomic” bomb ever to be exploded was a native Winnipegger, Louis Slotin. When Louis completed his Ph.D. in Chemistry in 1936, he tried, unsuccessfully, to get a position with the National Research Council in Canada. Instead, Slotin moved to Chicago and ended...
Chapter
This chapter deals with the use of historically based stories in science teaching. Stories can be viewed as pedagogical tools to help improve the learning experience of students and the learning of the content, itself. The focus of this chapter is the structure and content of science stories and the effectiveness of properly constructed stories to...
Article
Full-text available
A major aspect of the power of a historically based science story derives from its ability to cultivate interest in the reader or listener. In this paper, we review the research on interest originating from diverse scholarly areas and apply it to the understanding, construction, and effective use of science stories in both formal and informal learn...
Chapter
Full-text available
A major aspect of the power of a historically based science story derives from its ability to cultivate interest in the reader or listener. In this paper, we review the research on interest originating from diverse scholarly areas and apply it to the understanding, construction, and effective use of science stories in both formal and informal learn...
Data
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Many educators today advocate the use of historical narratives as one of a number of possible contexts for teaching science. However, several pedagogical and epistemological issues arise when implementing narratives in the classroom. In this paper, we are interested in expanding our view of narrative, specific to integrating the history of science...
Article
Full-text available
The literature on the pedagogical aspects of the photoelectric effect as used in the undergraduate student laboratory shows that little research has been done in this area. Our current study is an analysis of the instructions in 38, electronically published laboratory manuals for the photoelectric effect. The analyses were based on history and phil...
Article
Full-text available
The purpose of this paper is to discuss and apply the notion of romantic understanding by outlining its features and its potential role in science education, to identify its features in the story of Nikola Tesla, and to describe an empirical study conducted to determine the effect of telling such a story to Grade 9 students. Elaborated features of...
Article
Full-text available
The photoelectric effect is commonly used as the introductory topic for the study of quantum physics. However, a literature review reveals that besides various weaknesses and errors in the presentation of the history of the photoelectric effect, textbook presentations also contain incorrect presentations of the work function and the photon concept....
Article
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History of science can be used to bring scientific concepts to school science in a way that humanizes the protagonists and provides an appropriate context. The authors have researched the 1909 meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS) in Winnipeg, a significant event in the city’s history that has remained largely une...
Article
The photoelectric effect is an important part of general physics textbooks. To study the presentation of this phenomenon, we have reconstructed six essential, history and philosophy of science (HPS)-related aspects of the events that culminated in Einstein proposing his hypothesis of lightquanta and the ensuing controversy within the scientific com...
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Millikan's oil-drop experiment is one of the classic experiments from the history of physics. Due to its content (the determination of the elementary charge) it is also among those experiments that are frequently used and discussed in teaching situations. Disappointingly, a review of the educational literature on this experiment reveals that its im...
Article
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The Millikan oil drop experiment has been characterized as one of the ‘most beautiful’ physics experiments of all time and, certainly, as one of the most frustrating of all the exercises in the undergraduate physics laboratory. A literature review reveals that work done on addressing student difficulties in performing the oil drop experiment has, t...
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Full-text available
Science educators are beginning to establish a theoretical and methodological foundation for constructing and using stories in science teaching. At the same time, it is not clear to what degree science stories that have recently been written adhere to the guidelines that are being proposed. The author has written a story about Louis Slotin, which d...
Article
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Although various reasons have been proposed to explain the potential effectiveness of science stories to promote learning, no explicit relationship of stories to learning theory in science has been propounded. In this paper, two structurally analogous models are developed and compared: a structural model of stories and a temporal conceptual change...
Article
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The authors of this paper portray the perspective of Professor Leon Cooper, a theoretical physicist, Nobel laureate, active researcher, and physics textbook author, on teaching science and on the nature of science (NOS). The views presented emerged from an interview prepared by the authors and responded to in writing by Professor Cooper. Based on t...
Article
Full-text available
The photoelectric effect is commonly used as the introductory topic for the study of quantum physics. However, there are various indicators that some instructional materials and approaches to the topic contain deficiencies and even factual errors. A major aspect of instruction is the historical and scientific background for the photoelectric effect...
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Science curriculum outcomes at the middle school level are typically associated with the decontextualized science found in textbooks and teacher resources. However, the typical middle years classroom with a single teacher is an ideal setting for an integrated approach to learning science in the context of social studies, language arts, art, and oth...
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The use of historically based stories to teach science has both theoretical and practical support. This paper outlines how the historically based story may be utilized effectively in the classroom and, as an illustration of this, presents the story of Lord Kelvin’s role in the laying of the first trans-Atlantic communications cable during the perio...
Article
Contemporary assessment practices in science education have undergone significant changes in recent decades. The basis for these changes and the resulting new assessment practices are the subject of this two-part paper. Part 1 considers the basis of assessment that, more than 25 years ago, was driven by the assumptions of decomposability and decont...
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It is well established that thought experiments are both scientifically and philosophically significant, and even that they are pedagogically significant. However, the basis and methodology for their pedagogical use is not as well established. Pedagogical thought experiments are defined as mental simulations with special features to isolate certain...
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The contextual approach to teaching is generally recognized as a reasonable and desirable strategy to enhance student learning in science. Using several cognitive and learning theories together with various philosophical considerations, I identify five distinct contexts that are important in engaging learners: the theoretical, practical, social, hi...
Article
Full-text available
Many educators today advocate the use of historical narratives as one of a number of possible contexts for teaching science. However, several pedagogical and epistemological issues arise when implementing narratives in the classroom. In this paper, we are interested in expanding our view of narrative, specific to integrating the history of science...
Article
Full-text available
Our objective in this paper is to clarify the contextual approach in scienceeducation and to suggest appropriate uses of history in the science classroomfrom early years through post secondary education. We present a descriptionof the variety of approaches by which teachers and educators may include thehistory of science in science instruction. Thi...
Article
Full-text available
This thesis formulates a theoretical framework for the incorporation of history of science in science teaching, which, it is argued, is essential to laying a stable foundation for instructional design and future empirical studies. It is assumed that the historical approach to teaching science no longer needs defending and that contextual methods ar...

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