Adriana Lopez Jessica Moreno

1. CHAPTER 6
UNDERSTANDING HOW SCIENTIFIC
KNOWLEDGE IS CONSTRUCTED
By Adriana Lopez & Jessica Moreno

2.  Science is not only a body of
knowledge, but also a way of knowing.
One important underpinning for
learning science is students
understanding of the nature and
structure of scientific knowledge and
the process by which is developed

3. FOCUS ON THE STATUS
 Children's understanding
 Most children do not develop a understanding
 Methods of science, the school curriculum
 Facilitate their understand of science
Once undertake it is easier to understand scientific
knowledge is constructed.

4. UNDERLYING MODEL OF THE NATURE AND
DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENCE KNOWLEDGE
 K-8 years, review approaches the field has taken to
articulate the underlying model of building scientific
knowledge.
 Osborne and colleagues (2003) identify the ideas
about science that should be part of the school
science curriculum.
include: science and certainty
Analysis and interpretation of data
Scientific method and critical testing
Hypothesis and prediction ect.

5. OSBORNE DEFINITIONS OF SCIENCE
EPISTEMOLOGY
 List of four broad epistemological themes
1st- the viewing scientific knowledge as constructed is of
primary importance that underscores a dialectical
relationship between theory and evidence.
2nd- theme is that scientific methods are diverse: there is
no single method which generically applies to all scientific
inquires.
3rd- scientific knowledge comes in different forms, which
vary in their explanatory and predictive power.
4th- defining the aspects of understanding the
epistemology that have been linked to enhancing the
development of science understanding.

6. SCIENCE EPISTEMOLOGY (CONT.)
 Gobert and colleagues have studied the
epistemology of model of students.
Include their understanding of models as
representations of causal or explanatory ideas, that
there can be multiple models of the same thing, that
models do not need to be exactly like the thing
modeled, and that models can be revised or changed
in light of new data.

7. SCIENCE EPISTEMOLOGY (CONT.)
Schwartz and White (2005)
Found that students pretest modeling knowledge was
the only variable that was a significant predictor of
success for all three posttest measure and it was the
best predictor of both posttest content and modeling
knowledge.

8. UNDERSTANDING KNOWLEDGE
CONSTRUCTION
 Developmental literature involves a continuation of
the theory of mind frame into the elementary school
years.
 At 6yrs children begin to develop a view of mind as
an active interpreter
 Young children understanding of the constructive
nature of knowledge itself has not been studied
extensively, but upper elementary school students
tend to fall short of viewing knowledge as rooted in
a theoretical world view.

9. UNDERSTANDING KNOWLEDGE
CONSTRUCTION (CONT)
 Perry (1999)
individuals display shifts in their general stance
toward knowledge and knowing. Specifically, many
young people enter early adolescence embracing an
absolutist or dualist view of knowledge and truth.
 Boyes and Ball (1990)
epistemic doubt, they struggle with the erosion
of their certainty and may lose confidence altogether
that it is possible to be certain about anything

10. UNDERSTANDING KNOWLEDGE
CONSTRUCTION (CONT.)
 In later adolescence or early adulthood. Some
individuals may pass through relativism to embrace
a contextualize commitment to reasoned
judgment, although this move is by no means
typical or inevitable.
 Understand that knowledge is neither certain nor
complete.

11. UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF SCIENCE
AND HOW IT IS CONSTRUCTED
Research included:
1. Science specific developmental literature
2. Epistemic cognition literature focused on understanding
of science as a way of knowing
3. Survey-based data focused on children’s beliefs

12. UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF SCIENCE
AND HOW IT IS CONSTRUCTED
Imagine how holding either absolutist or relativist
epistemologies could lead to distorted view of
nature of science.

13. UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF SCIENCE
AND HOW IT IS CONSTRUCTED
Many students do not understand that science is
primarily a theory-building enterprise.
Students learn through observation, hypotheses, and
experiment.

14. UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF SCIENCE
AND HOW IT IS CONSTRUCTED
Students may not make clear distinctions between theory,
specific hypotheses, and evidence, and they may expect to
find simpler and more direct relations between data and
conclusions than warranted.

15. UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF SCIENCE
AND HOW IT IS CONSTRUCTED
Children are rarely taught abut controversy in science, so
Why would they come to view scientific knowledge as
contested?

16. UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF SCIENCE
AND HOW IT IS CONSTRUCTED
Research suggest that K-8 students have a limited
understanding of how scientific knowledge is constructed.
However, it is not clear to what extent one can attribute
such limitations to developmental state, as opposed to
adequacy of instructional opportunity or other experiences.

17. UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF SCIENCE
AND HOW IT IS CONSTRUCTED
An analysis of curriculum by the American Association
for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) indicates that
all curricular content is typically represented as of
equal importance, with little attention to its
interconnections or functionality.

18. UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF SCIENCE
AND HOW IT IS CONSTRUCTED
Curriculum has been criticized
Methods of Science dominate the school Science
Curriculum.

19. UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF SCIENCE
AND HOW IT IS CONSTRUCTED
“Science taught in schools is often different from
actual science and from everyday life. Students’
learning difficulties are thus increased because
Scientific goals are distorted and scientific ways of
thinking are inadequately taught.”
Rief and Larkin (1991)

20. UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF SCIENCE
AND HOW IT IS CONSTRUCTED
Research on sixth grade students’ understanding of the
nature of science suggested that they had a much better
sense of the constructive, knowledge problematic nature of
the enterprise.
Example: Designing a model that works like a human
elbow.

21. UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF SCIENCE
AND HOW IT IS CONSTRUCTED
Table 6-1 One Progression of increasingly sophisticated
Metaconceptual activities in grades 1-6
Page 180 - 181

22. UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF SCIENCE
AND HOW IT IS CONSTRUCTED
The lack of attention to theory, explanation, and models
may exacerbate the difficulties children have with
understanding how scientific knowledge is constructed.

23. Thank you!!!!