Young People's Images of Science

Abstract

This book should be of interest to all science educators, whether they teach students, advise or inspect or are involved in planning a science curriculum. The content is essentially an account of a research project undertaken to find out and to report the range and nature of school students' understanding of the nature of science. The authors designed a cross-age study, giving the same task to samples of pupils of three different ages: 9, 12 and 16 years. The collected data were analysed to see the ways in which understanding seemed to change with age and experience. The researchers' interest in students' ideas about science has grown from their observation that learners' responses to observations and ideas are constrained and limited in significant ways by their perception of the nature of scientific work and of scientific knowledge. The result is that students often misinterpret information and experiences presented in the classroom and laboratory. The authors hope that, by knowing more about these misperceptions, we may understand better the processes of science content learning and hence achieve more effective teaching. The book is divided into three sections. In the first 70 pages the authors set out the arguments for giving the nature of science a more prominent place in the curriculum. Next they present an overview of the major schools of thought about science and scientific knowledge, followed by a summary of previous research on students' ideas about the nature of science. The section concludes with the questions, methods and tools used in the research. In the next 60 pages the main findings of the study are presented and discussed. In the final chapter the authors bring together the theoretical arguments for the place of teaching about the nature of science with the results of the research study and consider the possible implications for science teaching in schools, discussing ways in which the curriculum could be adapted to assist students to become better citizens in a modern technological world. The book is well laid out, carefully planned and argued at every stage, with excellent clear headings and summaries. It is possible to read it on a superficial level, dwelling more on the conclusions, or to select sections for closer study using either the index or section headings. There are several appendices, one of which contains the 174 references to other publications quoted in the text. There is considerable food for thought and/or discussion or debate, not only for new teachers but as timely reminders to those who have been in the classroom, laboratory or management for many years, about their aims and objectives and whether they are being realized. This is a volume which should find its way into the resource library of every science teaching department.