Philosophy of Science and the Context of Science Pedagogy: Historical and Systematic Lessons from the USA in the Past Hundred Years (Sponsored by the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science)

Thursday, 3 November 2016
10:45 - 12:15

Piedmont 5 (12th Floor)

Chair: Alan Richardson, University of British Columbia

Most of what most people know of and in science is due to the fact that they’ve been taught it by someone else. Thus, the commonest route to scientific knowledge is science teaching. This general fact has been surprisingly neglected in philosophy of science. So, this session aims to bring the context of science pedagogy into focus for philosophy of science. Our approach is historical, because while philosophy of science has in general under-valued science teaching as a topic, nevertheless, the occasion philosopher (for example, John Dewey) has attempted to theorize proper science teaching; other philosophers (for example, Pierre Duhem, Philipp Frank) have written philosophy of science books to intervene in issues of science pedagogy; and yet other philosophers of science have taken part in public debates and courtroom battles about what should and should not be taught in the science classroom. Recently, at least a few philosophers—for example, Andrea Woody in her work on scientific explanation—have approached anew philosophical topics explicitly from a point of view that emphasizes issues arising in the context of science teaching.

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Theorizing Science and Pedagogy in the Pre-Professional Era

Andrew Jewett, Harvard University,

Connecting Inquiry and Values in Science Education: An Approach based on John Dewey's Perspective

Eun Ah Lee, The University of Texas at Dallas,

Matthew J. Brown, The University of Texas at Dallas,

Demarcation, Law, and the Schools: The Science/non-Science Boundary since the Dover Trial

Adam Shapiro, Independent Scholar,