Forum in Mathematics and Science Education
EDC 185G (08375):
Time: Mon 4-5PM SZB 524
Contact Information
Dr. Anthony Petrosino
Sanchez Building, Room 462-A
Email : ajpetrosino@mail.utexas.edu
Office: 512-232-9681
Office Hours: Monday 3-4PM or by appointment
This Forum is centered around the book “Designing for Science” which explores the
integration of recent research on everyday, classroom, and professional scientific
thinking. This edited volume brings together an international group of researchers to
present core findings from each context; discuss connections between contexts, and
explore structures; technologies, and environments to facilitate the development and
practice of scientific thinking. The chapters focus on: situations from young children
visiting museums, middle-school students collaborating in classrooms, undergraduates
learning about research methods, and professional scientists engaged in cutting-edge
research. A diverse set of approaches are represented, including sociocultural description
of situated cognition, cognitive enthnography, educational design experiments, laboratory
studies, and artificial intelligence. This unique mix of work from the three contexts
deepens our understanding of each subfield while at the same time broadening our
understanding of how each subfield articulates with broader issues of scientific thinking.
1. Course Expectations
Participation in class– Class discussion is crucial to the success of Forum. By participating in a critical
debate of the week’s readings, you and your classmates will improve your ability to speak publicly about
issues and ideas and to question the scholarly positions of others. Four essays will also be required to be
completed. See “*” on Class Meetings for designated chapters for reflection (750 words), due day of class.
Attendance – Class discussions are an extremely important part of learning and on-time class attendance is
mandatory. If you must miss class, please notify me in advance to discuss the situation
2. Grading – This is a pass/no pass seminar. It is expected as graduate students you will not have excessive
absences and that you will actively participate in classroom discussion in a scholarly fashion. In the event
you miss 3 or more classes you will receive a NO PASS for the semester. In the event of continued none
participation or not being prepared for class discussion, a grade of NO PASS will be administered
immediately following a third warning from the instructor.
3. Required Material
DESIGNING FOR SCIENCE: Implications From Everyday, Classroom, and Professional Settings
Author: Kevin Crowley (ed.), D. Schunn (ed.), and Takeshi Okada (ed.)
Primary Subject: COGNITIVE SCIENCE Sec Subject: SCIENCE EDUCATION
ISBN: 0-8058-3474-5 Year: 2001
CLASS MEETINGS
January 14- Introduction
January 21- H.A. Simon, "Seek and Ye Shall Find": How Curiosity Engenders Discovery.
January 28- M.A. Callanan, J.L. Jipson, Explanatory Conversations and Young Children's Developing
Scientific Literacy.
*February 4- M. Azmitia, K. Crowley, The Rhythms of Scientific Thinking: A Study of Collaboration in
an Earthquake Microworld.
February 11- C. Schunn, J. Anderson, Acquiring Expertise in Science: Explorations of What, When, and
How. * Last day to drop a course without a possible academic penalty.
February 18- K. Dunbar, What Scientific Thinking Reveals About the Nature of Cognition
*February 25- R. Tweney, Scientific Thinking: A Cognitive-Historical Approach.
March 4- D.E. Penner, Complexity, Emergence, and Synthetic Models in Science Education
March 11- SPRING BREAK NO CLASS
*March 18- R. Lehrer, L. Schauble, A. Petrosino, Reconsidering the Role of Experiment in Science
Education.
March 25- B. Loh, B.J. Reiser, J. Radinsky, D.C. Edelson, L.M. Gomez, S. Marshall, Developing
Reflective Inquiry Practices: A Case Study of Software, Teacher, and Students.
April 1- C.A. Chinn, B.A. Malhotra, Epistemologically Authentic Scientific Reasoning
April 8-. K. Crowley, J. Galco, Everyday Activity and the Development of Scientific Thinking.
April 15- J. Minstrell, Facets of Students' Thinking: Designing to Cross the Gap From Research to
Standards-Based Practice
*April 22- T. Okada, T. Shimokido, The Role of Hypothesis Formation in Psychological Research.
April 29 - P. Thagard, Internet Epistemology: Contributions of New Information Technologies to
Scientific Research.
Academic Integrity-Policy on Scholastic Dishonesty: Students who violate University rules on scholastic
dishonesty are subject to disciplinary penalties, including the possibility of failure in the course and/or
dismissal from The University. Since such dishonesty harms the individual, all students, and the integrity of
The University, policies on scholastic dishonesty will be strictly enforced. Please reference the following
URL for more detailed information concerning University policy
http://www.utexas.edu/depts/dos/sjs/academicintegrity2.html