Creative Model Construction in Scientists and Students

Creative Model Construction in Scientists and Students
Author: John Clement
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 608
Release: 2008-06-10
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1402067127

How do scientists use analogies and other processes to break away from old theories and generate new ones? This book documents such methods through the analysis of video tapes of scientifically trained experts thinking aloud while working on unfamiliar problems. Some aspects of creative scientific thinking are difficult to explain, such as the power of analogies, and the enigmatic ability to learn from thought experiments. This book is a window on that world.

Modelling-based Teaching in Science Education

Modelling-based Teaching in Science Education
Author: John K. Gilbert
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 279
Release: 2016-05-30
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3319290398

This book argues that modelling should be a component of all school curricula that aspire to provide ‘authentic science education for all’. The literature on modelling is reviewed and a ‘model of modelling’ is proposed. The conditions for the successful implementation of the ‘model of modelling’ in classrooms are explored and illustrated from practical experience. The roles of argumentation, visualisation, and analogical reasoning, in successful modelling-based teaching are reviewed. The contribution of such teaching to both the learning of key scientific concepts and an understanding of the nature of science are established. Approaches to the design of curricula that facilitate the progressive grasp of the knowledge and skills entailed in modelling are outlined. Recognising that the approach will both represent a substantial change from the ‘content-transmission’ approach to science teaching and be in accordance with current best-practice in science education, the design of suitable approaches to teacher education are discussed. Finally, the challenges that modelling-based education pose to science education researchers, advanced students of science education and curriculum design, teacher educators, public examiners, and textbook designers, are all outlined.

Imaginative Science Education

Imaginative Science Education
Author: Yannis Hadzigeorgiou
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 298
Release: 2016-05-26
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3319295268

This book is about imaginative approaches to teaching and learning school science. Its central premise is that science learning should reflect the nature of science, and therefore be approached as an imaginative/creative activity. As such, the book can be seen as an original contribution of ideas relating to imagination and creativity in science education. The approaches discussed in the book are storytelling, the experience of wonder, the development of ‘romantic understanding’, and creative science, including science through visual art, poetry and dramatization. However, given the perennial problem of how to engage students (of all ages) in science, the notion of ‘aesthetic experience’, and hence the possibility for students to have more holistic and fulfilling learning experiences through the aforementioned imaginative approaches, is also discussed. Each chapter provides an in-depth discussion of the theoretical background of a specific imaginative approach (e.g., storytelling, ‘wonder-full’ science), reviews the existing empirical evidence regarding its role in the learning process, and points out its implications for pedagogy and instructional practices. Examples from physical science illustrating its implementation in the classroom are also discussed. In distinguishing between ‘participation in a science activity’ and ‘engagement with science ideas per se’, the book emphasizes the central role of imaginative engagement with science content knowledge, and thus the potential of the recommended imaginative approaches to attract students to the world of science.

Conceptual metaphor and embodied cognition in science learning

Conceptual metaphor and embodied cognition in science learning
Author: Tamer Amin
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 269
Release: 2018-10-03
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1315316900

Scientific concepts are abstract human constructions, invented to make sense of complex natural phenomena. Scientists use specialised languages, diagrams, and mathematical representations of various kinds to convey these abstract constructions. This book uses the perspectives of embodied cognition and conceptual metaphor to explore how learners make sense of these concepts. That is, it is assumed that human cognition – including scientific cognition – is grounded in the body and in the material and social contexts in which it is embedded. Understanding abstract concepts is therefore grounded, via metaphor, in knowledge derived from sensory and motor experiences arising from interaction with the physical world. The volume consists of nine chapters that examine a number of intertwined themes: how systematic metaphorical mappings are implicit in scientific language, diagrams, mathematical representations, and the gestures used by scientists; how scientific modelling relies fundamentally on metaphor and can be seen as a form of narrative cognition; how implicit metaphors can be the sources of learner misconceptions; how conceptual change and the acquisition of scientific expertise involve learning to coordinate the use of multiple implicit metaphors; and how effective instruction can build on recognising the embodied nature of scientific cognition and the role of metaphor in scientific thought and learning. The volume also includes three extended commentaries from leading researchers in the fields of cognitive linguistics, the learning sciences, and science education, in which they reflect on theoretical, methodological and pedagogical issues raised in the book. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Science Education.

Studies in Science Education in the Asia-Pacific Region

Studies in Science Education in the Asia-Pacific Region
Author: May Hung Cheng
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 222
Release: 2017-09-13
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1317510704

Consistent with international trends, there is an active pursuit of more engaging science education in the Asia-Pacific region. The aim of this book is to bring together some examples of research being undertaken at a range of levels, from studies of curriculum and assessment tools, to classroom case studies, and investigations into models of teacher professional learning and development. While neither a comprehensive nor definitive representation of the work that is being carried out in the region, the contributions—from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand—give a taste of some of the issues being explored, and the hopes that researchers have of positively influencing the types of science education experienced by school students. The purpose of this book is therefore to share contextual information related to science education in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as offering insights for conducting studies in this region and outlining possible questions for further investigation. In addition, we anticipate that the specific resources and strategies introduced in this book will provide a useful reference for curriculum developers and science educators when they design school science curricula and science both pre-service and in-service teacher education programmes. The first section of the book examines features of science learners and learning, and includes studies investigating the processes associated with science conceptual learning, scientific inquiry, model construction, and students’ attitudes towards science. The second section focuses on teachers and teaching. It discusses some more innovative teaching approaches adopted in the region, including the use of group work, inquiry-based instruction, developing scientific literacy, and the use of questions and analogies. The third section reports on initiatives related to assessments and curriculum reform, including initiatives associated with school-based assessment, formative assessment strategies, and teacher support accompanying curriculum reform. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315717678, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Simulation and Learning

Simulation and Learning
Author: Franco Landriscina
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2013-03-14
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1461419549

The main idea of this book is that to comprehend the instructional potential of simulation and to design effective simulation-based learning environments, one has to consider both what happens inside the computer and inside the students' minds. The framework adopted to do this is model-centered learning, in which simulation is seen as particularly effective when learning requires a restructuring of the individual mental models of the students, as in conceptual change. Mental models are by themeselves simulations, and thus simulation models can extend our biological capacity to carry out simulative reasoning. For this reason, recent approaches in cognitive science like embodied cognition and the extended mind hypothesis are also considered in the book.. A conceptual model called the “epistemic simulation cycle” is proposed as a blueprint for the comprehension of the cognitive activies involved in simulation-based learning and for instructional design.

Theory Construction and Model-Building Skills

Theory Construction and Model-Building Skills
Author: James Jaccard
Publisher: Guilford Publications
Total Pages: 545
Release: 2020-02-06
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1462542433

"This book provides young scientists with tools to assist them in the practical aspects of theory construction. We take an informal journey through the cognitive heuristics, tricks of the trade, and ways of thinking that we have found to be useful in developing theories-essentially, conceptualizations-that can advance knowledge in the social sciences. This book is intended to provide the instructor with a useful source for helping students come up with ideas for research and for fine-tuning the resultant theories that emerge from such thinking. An objective of this book is to move toward a needed balance in the emphases given to theory construction and theory testing"--

Approaches and Strategies in Next Generation Science Learning

Approaches and Strategies in Next Generation Science Learning
Author: Khine, Myint Swe
Publisher: IGI Global
Total Pages: 383
Release: 2013-01-31
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1466628103

Approaches and Strategies in Next Generation Science Learning examines the challenges involved in the development of modern curriculum models, teaching strategies, and assessments in science education in order to prepare future students in the 21st century economies. This comprehensive collection of research brings together science educators, researchers and administrators interested in enhancing the teaching and learning of next generation science.

Model Based Learning and Instruction in Science

Model Based Learning and Instruction in Science
Author: John Clement
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2007-12-07
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1402064942

Anyone involved in science education will find that this text can enhance their pedagogical practice. It describes new, model-based teaching methods that integrate social and cognitive perspectives for science instruction. It presents research that describes how these new methods are applied in a diverse group of settings, including middle school biology, high school physics, and college chemistry classrooms. They offer practical tips for teaching the toughest of key concepts.

Building Theories

Building Theories
Author: David Danks
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2018-01-18
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3319727877

This book explores new findings on the long-neglected topic of theory construction and discovery, and challenges the orthodox, current division of scientific development into discrete stages: the stage of generation of new hypotheses; the stage of collection of relevant data; the stage of justification of possible theories; and the final stage of selection from among equally confirmed theories. The chapters, written by leading researchers, offer an interdisciplinary perspective on various aspects of the processes by which theories rationally should, and descriptively are, built. They address issues such as the role of problem-solving and heuristic reasoning in theory-building; how inferences and models shape the pursuit of scientific knowledge; the relation between problem-solving and scientific discovery; the relative values of the syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic view of theories in understanding theory construction; and the relation between ampliative inferences, heuristic reasoning, and models as a means for building new theories and knowledge. Through detailed arguments and examinations, the volume collectively challenges the orthodox view’s main tenets by characterizing the ways in which the different “stages” are logically, temporally, and psychologically intertwined. As a group, the chapters provide several attempts to answer long-standing questions about the possibility of a unified conceptual framework for building theories and formulating hypotheses.