Public Lecture: How to teach Nature of Science when you don’t know what it is
- When: 29th February
- Time: 4:30pm - 5:30pm
- Location: John Goodsell Room 119, UNSW
The School of Education is hosting a free public lecture by Prof Keld Nielsen, Aarhus University, Denmark, entitled How to teach “Nature of Science” (NOS) when you don’t know what it is.
Abstract
In the Danish upper secondary school it has - for the past three years - been mandatory to teach “the methods and identity” of a given subject. In the science-subjects this has led to a rather unfortunate situation, since most teachers have never heard about NOS, and have received no training in philosophy of science. As a result, some teachers simply leave NOS out of their teaching, claiming that laboratory exercises in themselves will demonstrate what the methods and identity of science is. Other teachers draw on outdated knowledge and teach specifically about “the scientific method” and the interaction between experiment and theory as the driver of science. A third group adds a new level of theory and teach about inductivism, deductivism, positivism, falsification, paradigms and normal/revolutionary science etc.
I will report about a recent development project in which 20 upper secondary science teachers were given the challenge of dealing with teaching “methods and identity” in science in such a way that this new topic could be integrated in the existing science teaching, not adding a new layer of complexity to their teaching, but strengthening their teaching “from within”.
Biography
Keld Nielsen is associate professor in history of science and science education studies at Aarhus University, Denmark. For many years he has been engaged in teaching and in museum work. For five years he was head of a department which included science studies, science education studies and a science museum. He now teaches history of science and works with pre-service and in-service teacher training.
Contact Details
To register for this event please click here.
