Content uploaded by Jelle De Schrijver
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Jelle De Schrijver on Jun 22, 2018
Content may be subject to copyright.
A preview of the PDF is not available
Can a Rabbit be a Scientist? Pilot Study on the Introduction of Philosophical Dialogues in Flemish Science Classes
Abstract
To improve pupils' motivation for and attitude towards sciences as well as their inquiry skills, we introduced P4C in Flemish science classes using a design-based research paradigm. 12 to 14 year-olds participated in several P4C sessions, focusing on the nature of science and scientific concepts. Based on both qualitative and quantitative research data, landmarks on the conditions of a successful introduction of P4C in the science class were pinned. The quantitative data show an increase in pupils' abilities to cope with uncertainty. The qualitative data suggest that participants show an increase in the ability to ask creative questions and problematize scientific concepts. P4C sessions with a mix of both thinking and scientific experiments appeared most successful. We observed that the use of philosophical dialogues may positively influence the inquiry skills of pupils as long as there is a good classroom atmosphere.
... Studies on the implementation of philosophical inquiries in the context of science education show how these inquiries can be used to help students reflect on scientific concepts, ethical issues or NOS (De Schrijver et al., 2018;Dunlop & De Schrijver, 2020). ...
Since knowledge about evolution—and especially human evolution—is insufficient, we aimed to design three student centered online activities. These activities deal with human evolution and are intended to expose high school biology students and pre-service science teachers to issues concerning human evolution in order to enhance their knowledge of evolution and human evolution whilst also potentially enhancing their acceptance of evolution. The activities deal with lactose tolerance, celiac disease and starch consumption affecting diabetes. Additionally, we describe the principles that guided the design of these three activities: issues connecting to students’ lives; noncontentious topics regarding human evolution; human evolution examples that occurred in the not-too-distant past; unambiguous genetic frame stories including simple genetic mutations that affect known traits; and examples that expose students to basic bioinformatics tools for facing authentic scientific issues dealing with genetic evidence of evolution. Furthermore, we present the results of pre-service science teachers’ experiences with one of the activities, which demonstrate that a significant proportion of these teachers used more evolution key concepts after experiencing the activity. Notably, a significant proportion of these teachers showed an increase in evolution acceptance. In-service teachers who experienced one of the activities recommended the introduction of genetic evidence of human evolution via the activity and did not predict opposition among their students. Thus, we recommend the use of these activities among high school biology students since dealing with a relevant topic that includes clear and straightforward evidence of evolution may lead to better knowledge, a greater acceptance of evolution and human evolution, and the improved negotiation of evolution related socioscientific issues (SSIs).
... If you can't give it to me, I will ask my parents, I will look it up online and I will keep looking for it". Although this child expressed his frustration, he also demonstrated how his frustration may lead him towards further study [De Schrijver, De Poorter, Cornelissen & Anthone, 2018]. If frustration can guide further investigation, then it may not be such an unwelcome result at all. ...
Thinking about what makes science science can help people develop both an understanding of and a critical attitude towards knowledge. In this case study we explore how children participating in informal science communication activities can think about science by engaging in philosophical dialogues. The dialogue facilitator's inquisitive stance helps children develop arguments about knowledge, scientists, and science. The use of philosophical questions and a cover story involving alien scientists enthuses most children, but some find it frustrating. However, frustration acts as a motivator enhancing further reflection. Introducing this approach at science museums or science festivals challenges science communicators to question rather than to answer.
... Studies on the implementation of philosophical inquiries in the context of science education show how these inquiries can be used to help students reflect on scientific concepts, ethical issues or NOS (De Schrijver et al., 2018;Dunlop & De Schrijver, 2020). ...
... Studies on the implementation of philosophical inquiries in the context of science education show how these inquiries can be used to help students reflect on scientific concepts, ethical issues or NOS (De Schrijver et al., 2018;Dunlop & De Schrijver, 2020). ...
Addressing the complex and controversial problems we face
today requires education to empower citizens with competencies
in sustainability that allow them to contribute to more just and
sustainable societies. Many sustainability problems are strongly
linked to evolutionary processes. When complex problems can be
informed by science, these are known as socioscientific issues
(SSI). Educational approaches that explore SSI have been shown
to contribute to the development of functional scientific literacy
and character development. Together, this suggests that evolution
education through the SSI approach may contribute to the
development of key competencies in sustainability. To test this
hypothesis and understand how evolution education has been
explored through SSI approaches, we performed a systematic
literature review to identify the key competencies in sustainability
developed in papers addressing evolution through SSI. Our
results indicate that a few studies have addressed evolution
education through SSI and support the potential of this approach
since all key competencies in sustainability were found in these
studies; however, some of these competencies (e.g., strategic
and anticipatory competencies) were not frequently observed.
Our results also support the interest in this approach to evolution
education since all evolution education dimensions were found.
However, the analysed studies show little diversity in terms of the
explored SSI, with the majority being related to biotechnology.
The implications of these findings and important highlights for
educational practices and research are discussed.
... Studies on the implementation of philosophical inquiries in the context of science education show how these inquiries can be used to help students reflect on scientific concepts, ethical issues or NOS (De Schrijver et al., 2018;Dunlop & De Schrijver, 2020). ...
EuroScitizen and EvoKE offer you the ebook "Learning evolution through socioscientific issues". Produced by professionals from 15 different countries, this book includes 6 theoretical chapters on the teaching and learning of biological evolution and on the socioscientific issues pedagogical approach, and 6 chapters with practical activities on a variety of topics and grade levels, which you can use to inspire your own research.
Education about socioscientific issues (SSIs) can be challenging as underlying tensions can surface. When discussing the topic
of genetic engineering, these tensions can be related to (1)
the molecular biology of genetics and genetic engineering, (2)
the evolutionary aspects of genetic engineering, (3) the nature
of science and (4) the ethical understanding of this SSI. Such tensions may lead to confrontation, either between students or between students and teachers. The practice of ‘philosophical inquiry’ provides a pedagogical approach to help explore these tensions and engage in dialogues. Philosophical inquiry entails a dialogic approach in which a facilitator helps a group of students uncover hidden presuppositions and elicit an argumentative conversation. Stimuli such as pictures, cases or quotes provide a context to help students engage in dialogues about philosophical questions. Thus, students can reflect upon the relationship between science and evolution, the nature of science and the tensions between genetic engineering and society. In this chapter, we first explore different sensitivities related to genetic engineering. Then, we showcase learning material for secondary school students to cope with these issues. We focus on an approach to using big questions and stimulating dialogue to explore sensitivities. Ultimately, we provide tips to consider when addressing SSIs through philosophical dialogue.
Er wordt wel eens gezegd dat het Vlaamse wetenschapsonderwijs eerder op antwoorden dan op vragen is gericht. Hoewel de onderzoekscompetentie centraal staat in het Vlaamse wetenschapsonderwijs, valt inderdaad op dat het leren formuleren van goede onderzoeks-vragen een grote uitdaging blijft voor leerlingen. De methodiek van het filosoferen biedt mogelijk een oplossing. De visie van het filosoferen behelst het denken zichtbaar te ma-ken zodat onzorgvuldigheden in leerlingendenkbeelden bloot worden gelegd. Uit toepas-singen in het buitenland blijkt deze methode niet alleen de motivatie van jongeren voor wetenschappen te verhogen, maar belooft ze ook de onderzoekscompetentie van leerlin-gen te stimuleren. In deze tekst verkennen we hoe deze methodiek het Vlaamse natuur-wetenschappenonderwijs kan versterken en tegelijkertijd de interesse van leerlingen voor wetenschappen verder kan aanwakkeren.
This article presents the findings of an international collaborative investigation into preservice teachers’ views on the
nature of scientific knowledge development with respect to six elements: observations and inferences, tentativeness, scientific
theories and laws, social and cultural embeddedness, creativity and imagination, and scientific methods. A total of 640 preservice
teachers, 209 from the United States, 212 from China, and 219 from Turkey, participated in the study. The survey “Student Understanding of Science and Scientific Inquiry (SUSSI)”, having a blend of Likert-type items and related open-ended questions, was used to gain a fuller understanding of the preservice
teachers’ views of the nature of scientific knowledge development. Across the three countries, the participants demonstrated
better understanding of the tentative NOS aspect but less understanding of the nature of and relationship between scientific
theories and scientific laws. The Chinese sample scored highest on five of the six Likert sub-scales, the USA sample demonstrated
more informed views on observation and inference, and the Turkish preservice teachers possessed relatively more traditional
views in all six NOS aspects. Conclusions and limitations of the present study as well as implications and recommendations
for future studies, are also discussed.
The article highlights and problematizes some challenges that are faced in carrying out design-based research. It states that the emerging field of learning sciences is one that is interdisciplinary, drawing on multiple theoretical perspectives and research paradigms so as to build understandings of the nature and conditions of learning, cognition and development. A fundamental assumption of many learning scientists is that cognition is not a thing located within the individual thinker but is a process that is distributed across the knower, the environment in which knowing occurs and the activity in which the learner participates. In other words, learning, cognition, knowing and context are irreducibly co-constituted and cannot be treated as isolated entities or processes.
This chapter discusses the role of research in relation to educational design and development activities. The first part of the chapter focuses on the rationale and basic principles of development research by outlining motives for conducting formative research, analyzing definitions and aims of various types of development research, and discussing several of its key characteristics. The second part of the chapter deals with methods of development research, exploring some of its typical problems and dilemmas, and discussing several challenges for further action and reflection.
This paper offers a systematic critical review of controlled outcome studies of the ‘Philosophy for Children’ (P4C) method in primary (elementary) and secondary (high) schools. Ten studies met the stringent criteria for inclusion, measuring outcomes by norm‐referenced tests of reading, reasoning, cognitive ability, and other curriculum‐related abilities, by measures of self‐esteem and child behaviour, and by child and teacher questionnaires. All studies showed some positive outcomes. The mean effect size was 0.43 with low variance, indicating a consistent moderate positive effect for P4C on a wide range of outcome measures. The implications for practice, policy, and future research were explored, particularly in relation to cost‐effectiveness.
This study examined the knowledge, beliefs and efforts of five prospective teachers to enact teaching science as inquiry, over the course of a one-year high school fieldwork experience. Data sources included interviews, field notes, and artifacts, as these prospective teachers engaged in learning how to teach science. Research questions included 1) What were these prospective teachers' beliefs of teaching science? 2) To what extent did these prospective teachers articulate understandings of teaching science as inquiry? 3) In what ways, if any, did these prospective teachers endeavor to teach science as inquiry in their classrooms? 4) In what ways did the mentor teachers' views of teaching science appear to support or constrain these prospective teachers' intentions and abilities to teach science as inquiry? Despite support from a professional development school setting, the Interns' teaching strategies represented an entire spectrum of practice—from traditional, lecture-driven lessons, to innovative, open, full-inquiry projects. Evidence suggests one of the critical factors influencing a prospective teacher's intentions and abilities to teach science as inquiry, is the teacher's complex set of personal beliefs about teaching and of science. This paper explores the methodological issues in examining teachers' beliefs and knowledge in actual classroom practice. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 613–642, 2007.
This study has two purposes: (a) methodological—to design and test a new instrument able to reflect changes in attitudes toward science over time, and (b) investigative—to find out the effect of two similar curricular treatments on the attitudes of two classes. Items about the relevance of science to students' lives were developed, pilot-tested, and analyzed using Rasch modeling. We then divided reliable items into three equivalent questionnaire forms. The final three forms of the questionnaire were used to assess high school students' attitudes. Over 18 weeks, one class used a core curriculum (Science and Sustainability) to learn science in the context of making decisions about societal issues. A second class used the same core curriculum, but with parts replaced by computer-based activities (Convince Me) designed to enhance the coherence of students' arguments. Using traditional and Rasch modeling techniques, we assessed the degrees to which such instructional activities promoted students' beliefs that science is relevant to them. Both classes tended to agree more, over time, that science is relevant to their lives, and the increases were statistically equivalent between classes. This study suggests that, by using innovative, issue-based activities, it is possible to enhance students' attitudes about the relevance of science. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 40: 757–775, 2003
This is a textbook for teachers that demonstrates how philosophical thinking can be used in teaching children. It begins with the assumption that what is taught in schools is not (and should not be) subject matter but rather ways of thinking. The main point is that the classroom should be converted into a community of inquiry, and that one can begin doing that with children. Based on the curriculum that Matt Lipman has developed at the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children, which he heads, this book describes the curriculum and explains its use. The text is self-contained, however. This revision is thorough-going and incorporates new chapters, as well as new material in old chapters. Part One focuses on the need of educational change and the importance of philosophical inquiry in developing new approaches. Part Two discusses curriculum and teaching methodology, including teacher behavior conducive to helping children. Part Three deals with developing logic skills and moral judgment. It concludes with a chapter on the sorts of philosophical themes pertinent to ethical inquiry for children: the right and the fair, perfect and right, free will and determinism, change and growth, truth, caring, standards and rules, thinking and thinking for oneself. Education, in this sense, is not a matter of dispensing information; it is the process of assisting in the growth of the whole individual.