Contents
Abstracts of the talks
Poster Abstracts
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Abstracts of the talks
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School Science as Intervention
Conceptual and Material Tools and the Nature of Science
Agustı́n Adúriz-Bravo
In this presentation, I resume my previous proposal of science stories based on the history of science, enriching it with Mercè IzquierdoAymerichs suggestion around the combined used of a logical and a
narrative rationality in science teaching. The purpose of my presentation is to discuss the design and implementation of didactical units
directed to acquaint in-service and prospective science teachers for all
educational levels with the construct of ’science as intervention’. Following some ideas from current philosophy of science (e.g., writings by
Ian Hacking and Javier Echeverrı́a), I propose to portray the scientific
activity as an aim-driven, value-laden transformation of the material
world aided with, and mediated by, material tools (instruments) and
conceptual tools (signs). Selected episodes from the history of science
(particularly some key moments in the atomic theory) provide materials for the narratives that I construct to work with science teachers. The kind of work that I propose can be conceptualised as school
meta-scientific argumentation, i.e., teachers argue around the nature
of science.
5
Neverland in Pavia
Fabio Bevilacqua, Lidia Falomo & Gabriele Albanesi
In 2011 Pavia University celebrated its 650th birthday. This was the
occasion to propose an ambitious project (Neverland) aimed at overcoming the separation between formal (school) and informal (science
museums, interactive laboratories based on historical experiments and
multimedia) science education. A number of classes (various age groups)
of a network of schools of the Pavia province were partners in the project. University Museums (Physics, Medicine, Mineralogy, Natural history, Botanical Gardens) and Laboratories, both historic-educational
(Volta) and modern research (Microscopy, Mineralogy), have joined
forces. Each class adopted a famous Pavia scientist of the past (Volta,
Scarpa, Scopoli, Taramelli, Golgi . . .) visited the corresponding museum and performed specific lab activities. Back at school information
gathered was related to the history of modern figurative art stressing
the role of analogical inference, often relevant both in scientific and in
artistic innovation. Participative videos were produced.
The Neverland project draws on the past experience of the History
of Physics Group starting in the 80’s and 90’s and aimed at the preservation, restoration and explanation through 3D multimedia of the
old physics’ instruments, an experience that led to the foundation of
the University (Science) Museum System. Interactive exhibitions were
dedicated to Volta (1999), Einstein (an international cooperation in
2005 with Berlin and Jerusalem and with contributions from Oldenburg and Pisa), Galileo (2009), and the History of the energy conservation principle (2010). In all of these, high school students were
trained to play the role of “explainers”, carrying out with younger
students, colleagues, and general public a series of historical experiments. University students have coordinated the various activities.
The youngest participants have been encouraged to develop forms of
“artistic” expression based on the sensations and ideas experienced in
their exposure to scientific activity.
6
Can Historical Instruments be Useful in Today’s
Education?
Paolo Brenni
Since circa the late 1970s, historical scientific instruments have
sparked the interest of an increasing number of historians of science. In
the last decades, many books, articles and monographs have been published on the topic. The uses and the evolution of scientific instruments
have been investigated, as well as the history of their production and
trade. Old and forgotten scientific instrument collections have been
rediscovered, restored and catalogued. Finally the instrumental heritage has been recognized as an invaluable source of information for
scholars, and today our knowledge on it is incomparably larger than
it was only 30 or 40 years ago.
Nevertheless I do believe that the cultural potential in the field
of education of this heritage is still largely underexploited. Several
physics teachers and professors which have access to old didactic instruments tend to re-use them just in order to perform some simple
experiment or demonstrations for which they had been conceived. But
if these practices can attract the curiosity and the interest of the students, they certainly endanger the survival of these delicate apparatus’
and therefore such an approach is not systematically practicable. Furthermore, such a usage only explores one aspect of historical instruments. Much more interesting is the excellent exercise replicating historical instruments and experiments (which was successfully carried
on at the Carl-von-Ossietzky University Oldenburg in the last decades). This allows rediscovering many unexpected aspects of the tacit
knowledge and of the laboratory practices of the past. Reproducing
and filming classical demonstrations with historical apparatus is also
a possible way for better understanding these forgotten practices and
to show to a potentially unlimited audience how physics was taught
in the past.
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But I am also convinced that, if properly presented and interpreted,
historical instruments can be interesting not only for historians of science or science students. These artefacts are in fact like multifaceted
microcosms which can be examined and presented following very different paths. Their history is essential in understanding scientific as
well as industrial revolutions, their use and diffusion deeply changed
the our society, their trade was an indicator of the diffusion of scientific practices and of the evolution of precision industry. Artistic
masterpieces or products of industrial design, tools for practitioners
or symbols of wealth and power, domestic objects or apparatus for
exploring natures, didactic aids or scientific toys and amusements:
historical instruments can be all that and much more. Therefore, I am
convinced that “reading” and interpreting them under various aspects
can be used as one of the possible keys for opening the many superfluous doors which today artificially separate disciplines that in reality
are interconnected. Understanding the universe of historical instruments is a multidisciplinary exercise, which can be extremely useful
for showing the complexity which characterizes our history.
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Learning Science as Explorers
Historical Resonances, Inventive Instruments, Evolving Community
Elizabeth Cavicchi
In contrast to traditional instruction with its focus on tracking individuals toward pre-specified accomplishments, new educational possibilities arise as students explore science materials together without
being told what to do, produce or think. Doing science as explorers
means students exert their own minds and hands, discovering personal resources and their shared interdependence of past and future.
Whatever they observe, wonder, question and do uncovers the unknown, stretching their experience: learning happens. To engage students as explorers requires a classroom where participants feel safe to
express uncertainty and take risks among each other. I create these
conditions by employing critical exploration in the classroom. Originally developed by Eleanor Duckworth through her work in teaching teachers, critical exploration is presently practiced worldwide by
teachers and learners of all ages across diverse subject areas, with support from a website. Based upon the interactive interviewing of Jean
Piaget and Bärbel Inhelder and their evidence that learners actively
construct their own new understandings and capacities, critical exploration techniques encourage and support the student’s natural ability
to construct understanding, in contrast to the view that learners’ acceptance of input from external sources constitutes understanding. I
integrate this practice into a university seminar, by which I involve undergraduate and graduate students with historical science through lab
activities. As my students observe nature and experience trust in working with each other, their curiosity is expressed in ways that resonate
with historical investigations; provoke them to invent instruments and
models; and engender their collaboration and community. These students experience historical resonances through observation, such as
seeing the night sky unaided or watching artists blow glass; through
experiment, such as balancing weights or handling clay; and through
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discussion, such as conjecturing how earth, sun and moon relate in
space. Through doing concurrent readings of Euclid, Archimedes or
Galileo, students find parallels between their thinking and history. In
extending these parallels, students invent such instrumental assists
as modeling moonrise through configurations of their bodies, balls
and a lamp in the darkroom, which they later test observationally.
In the process, their curiosity becomes self-sustaining, instigating further investigation. Drawing on diverse strengths of participants, collaboration among explorers is not like a chain; it can be “as strong
as its strongest link.” One person’s insightful confusion can take the
whole group’s understanding to a new and different place; an experiment or diagram beginning in one person’s hands soon engages all.
Their collaboration has at its disposal the union of life experiences
of its members. The outcomes of this exploratory educational experience differ from and complement those of traditional instruction. As
they ask questions across diverse features of the terrain, students become able to synthesize and critique the general character of what
they are studying. Through learning to generally respect and listen to
others’ ideas, their communication grows beyond the need for words.
Connections students make with each other help them to make personal connections with historical figures and their quandaries, concerns, and inspirations. Historical figures become virtual members in
the classroom, whose historical discourse is treated as if written by
a current collaborator. Struggles with external authority encountered
by historical figures such as Galileo, arouse learners’ discussion of analogues in their own lives and world. In each seminar, students’ final
papers reflect profound awareness of learning and intellectual curiosity
of a kind not described elsewhere.
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The Perception of Gravity in a Physically Modified
Space
An Analysis Based on Gaston Bachelard’s Epistemology
Cibelle Celestino Silva
The main objective of this research was to understand how a modified physical space can influence the perception and explanations
about gravity held by high school students. This research was conducted in the “Mad House” of Centre of Scientific and Cultural Dissemination of the University of Sao Paulo. This is a house with walls
and floor tilted by an angle of 15 degrees in relation to the external
framework. When the visitor enters the house, she/he experiences alterations in the perception of some daily phenomena related to the
force of gravity. The adopted theoretical framework was the notions
of epistemological obstacles proposed by Gaston Bachelard. The research was based on quantitative and qualitative analysis by observations, questionnaires, video and audio recordings, and semi-structured
interviews. The data analysis points to the presence of some epistemological obstacles proposed by the bachalerdian epistemology, such as;
first experience, animism, naive conceptions and verbal obstacle; it
also demonstrated some of student’s difficulties in understanding the
concept of gravity and its vector character. The influence of the three
learning contexts (personal, sociocultural and physical) also became
clear during the activities. In different moments, the activities performed inside the “Mad House” illustrated in larger or smaller scales
the interpolation of the three contexts.
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Helium from Radium
Looking at a ’Crucial’ Experiment in Early Radioactivity Research
Beate Ceranski
In a spectacular and widely discussed experiment in 1903 the chemists William Ramsay and Frederick Soddy proved that helium had
been produced from a small amount of radium. What we today recognize as evidence for the alpha particles being helium ions, however,
was then interpreted quite differently. In 1903, the production of helium from radium provided a simple and elegant proof for the theory
of nuclear decay.
Looking at this experiment which is almost completely forgotten
today in historical context can therefore teach us to look critically
upon so called ’crucial’ experiments and their public proclamation as
such. It will also provide us with insights into the importance of material culture and tacit knowledge for the advancement of science. Last
but not least its misinterpretation might provide us with a valuable
opportuniy to check pupils’ grasp of the law of radiocactive decay.
12
The Relevance of History of Biology to Teaching and
Learning in the Life Sciences
The Case of Mendel’s Laws.
Zoubeida Dagher
School science tends to treat laws as givens. The relative scarce
reference to biological laws is seldom discussed or explained in K-12
textbooks. These books often present Mendel’s two Laws in a straightforward description: Law of segregation and law of independent assortment without any discussion of what the law status entails. If
early biology textbooks often contrasted Galton’s Law against the
Mendelian ’scheme’, ’principles’, or ’facts’, then when and why did
Mendel’s Laws come to be labeled as such? This paper discusses the
case of Mendel’s laws relative to 1) the social factors that led to their
establishment, and 2) contemporary debates by philosophers of biology on the existence or potential existence of biological laws. After
clarifying and synthesizing the various viewpoints, the paper culminates with specific recommendations for biology education.
13
Zeppelins and Hugo Eckener
An Approach to Integrate an Exhibition with a Historical Theme in a
Science Center.
Achim Englert
After the death of Graf Zeppelin in 1917, it was Hugo Eckener who
represented the rise and the fall of the Zeppelins. He was born in 1868
and grew up in Flensburg, and he never forgot his roots in Flensburg. In the twenties and thirties of the last century, he was one of
most popular in the world as he was the person who embodied the
high tech vehicle Zeppelin which fascinated millions of people all over
the world. This is why the Flensburg Science Center Phänomenta decided four years ago to integrate a small exhibition commemorating
Hugo Eckener. We took into account that even though the conceptual
approach in the Phänomenta is one of an absolutely interactive exhibtion, we had to implement elements which usually refer to a more
conservative didactic approach. The Exhibition can be divided into
three sections:
• Hugo Eckener as a person,
• the Zeppelin as a project (the journeys and the life on the Zeppelin),
• and the natural sciences regarding the Zeppelin.
In the presentation, the concept of the exhibition, the realization
and the experiences we made will be discussed.
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Make - Keep - Use
Historical Instruments into the Classroom
Peter Heering
Using historical experiments in educational situations has been advocated for quite some time. Even though a good number of practitioners (teachers, teacher trainers etc.) responded very sympathetic to
such an approach, one criticism has frequently been made as a response
to suggestions of implementing historical experimental practices in science teaching: the lack of respective instruments in a ’normal’ school.
Such a criticism was in some sense well founded, as most schools in
fact do not possess the devices required to carry out the respective
experiments.
In order to overcome this deficit, we have started at the University
of Flensburg a different approach under the name Projekt Galilei: In
a first step, teachers are trained with respect to the conception of
the approach as well as to the use of historical experiments in science education. Their schools can borrow for two weeks reconstructed
historical instruments from our collection. These instruments serve as
a basis for reconstructions that are carried out by the students from
grade 8-10. This serves on the one hand the purpose to show the practical aspects of science, on the other hand, different competences are
required in order to produce and to contextualize the instrument. As a
by-product, the school keeps the product, a reconstructed instrument
with its contextualization. Thus, teachers are enabled to bring these
devices and the historical experimentation into their classrooms.
The pilot study in this project was carried out in 2011. In the
presentation, I will discuss the conceptual idea, the realization in the
pilot study as well as the experiences we made during the evaluation.
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How to Cope with Gauss’s Errors
Understanding the Obstacles of Error Treatment from its Historical Evolution.
Susanne Heinicke
Error treatment can surely not be called one of the most popular topics loved among students in their scientific education. In fact,
school education mostly circumnavigates it either claiming that errors were negligible or by holding them responsible for any unwanted
discrepancies. Mellor (1967) tellingly states in a textbook that errors
were a “tiresome but trivial excrescence on the neat deductive structure of science”. At university level the issue cannot go unconsidered
but obviously constitutes one of the topics avoided and feared most
by the students and even lecturers.
Yet, the discussion of the limits to experimental precision and therefore knowledge in the sciences offers a major learning opportunity
about the nature of science, its knowledge production and our handling of empirical data and should therefore not be passed up in science
education. To shed some light on the difficulties of the matter one can
analyse the learnersı́ understandings and learning obstacles as well as
put the scientific contents through their paces for inner inconsistencies and inadequacies. In both cases this will lead to revealing and
helpful results. Yet, looking at those difficulties both in the understanding and the content from an educatorı́s perspective, one cannot
but wonder how this matter at the centre of empirical science could
at all come about and hold for at least 200 years since Gauss (1809)
and Laplace (1810) took their steps towards the foundations of modern error treatment. Here, the analysis of the historical background
and evolution of the error calculus can help both to understand the
obstacles of the very matter we want to teach, to inform how we could
teach it better and what content it is in particular we would want to
teach.
This historical analysis keeps some surprises, one of it that the con-
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tributions of Gauss and Laplace in the first half of the 19th century
display an approach to error treatment much better founded in probability theory than the approach we find in todayı́s text books and
much more connected with personal experience and the very experimental situation at hand than todayı́s practice. Following the further development it appears that this holistic and complex approach
got more and more boiled down to apparently objective calculation
routines which allowed an isolation of data analysis from the experiences of the preceding experimental action. Ironically, it can also be
found that the current international recommendations to the treatment of uncertainty in measurement (GUM) published by the BIPM,
that was set up to overcome many of the mathematical and scientific
deficiencies of the conventional error calculus, strongly resembles the
outline of the approach laid down by Gauss and Laplace almost two
centuries earlier.
For science education, there is an important lesson to learn from it:
The discussion of uncertainties in measurement is complex. Inadequacies and obstacles for the learning process historically were caused
by an increasing systematization of the approach to mere calculation routines as well as the isolation of experimental action and data
analysis. The information about the historical development of the dissatisfying matters that we teach today can therefore help to critically
reconsider its content and avoid learning environments that reduce
it to mere calculation routines. Ultimately, the historical reflection
warns not to simplify the current approach of the GUM the same way
as its predecessor to prevent resulting new scientific inconsistencies
and learning obstacles.
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Education for Everyone in Museum Boerhaave
Hans Hooijmaijers
When I joined Museum Boerhaave, one of my first projects was
to set up an educational program for the secondary school subject
science. This new subject taught pupils the background of scientific
research and astronomy, ideally suited for a trip to Museum Boerhaave. The program fitted in the tradition of the museum, as it has
always had education in its mission.
Nowadays Museum Boerhaave has a whole range of courses for 4
to 80 years old. In my talk I will give an overview of this range, from
workshops for primary schools, working with replicas for secondary
schools, handling the real objects with university students to ’Salon
Boerhaave’ for adults. The main theme in all of these varieties is the
collection of Museum Boerhaave. Some of the programs are given each
year on the same basis, but quite a few are tailor made. My paper will
elaborate on one of each of these types.
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Our Ancestors?
Three-Dimensional Reconstructions of Hominids in Science Centers and
Museums
Oliver Hochadel
Little Lucy looks at us with a friendly smile while the Neanderthal
seems to be a rough guy. Three-dimensional reconstructions of hominids have found a firm place in natural history museums. More recently
they have also made their appearance in science centers. This paper
will ask how these imaginations of “our” ancestors are made and received. Production: How do artists, paleoanthropologists and museum
curators cooperate? Soft tissue does not fossilize. How do they fill the
“gaps” of the paleontological record, e.g. hair and skin? How do they
resolve conflicts in the production process? Are the numerous debates
within human origins research reflected in the reconstructions? Which
iconographic traditions influence the representations? Is there a feedback mechanism between science and art i.e. do paleoanthropologists
gather new insights by assisting the reconstruction of an Australopithecus or a Homo erectus? Reception: Do the reconstructions also
influence the views of the researches themselves? How do visitors of
museums perceive reconstructions of hominids? How do they shape
their ideas about human evolution? And do these perceptions differ
from country to country or from culture to culture? How do curators counter the “reality effect” (i.e. that visitors think that an Australopithecus looked exactly like the model? Why does it seem nearly
impossible to get rid of linear and teleological representations of the
human pedigree? And in the same vein: Why is it so difficult to get
rid of certain racist stereotypes such as the backwardness of Africa?
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Crossing Boundaries towards an Effective Inclusion of
History and Philosophy in Science Teaching
Dietmar Höttecke
Several researchers have complained the gap between advocating
history and philosophy of science (HPS) in science teaching on the
one hand and its effective inclusion on the other (e.g. Monk & Osborne, 1997; Allchin, 2011; Höttecke & Silva, 2011). Science teachers
usually do not feel committed to teach “additional content” like history or philosophy of science. Several aspects of the current culture of
school science teaching prevent teachers from agreeing with the advocates of HPS. The European project HIPST (history and philosophy
in science teaching, 2008-2010) may be regarded as a further step towards improving the situation. The project acted as a starting point
for a reconstruction of HPS-based materials for teaching and learning and focused on integrating the perspectives of teachers as well as
learners. We were aiming at avoiding a significant problem which in
our view too often has characterized curriculum development: a simple
mapping of systematic structures of science onto curricular structures
of science teaching. Our work was driven by the idea to avoid the
same mistake in the realm of HPSST. This means that content from
HPS should not simply be mapped onto any curricular structure of
HPSST. Instead, learners’ perspectives (interests, motivational orientations, pre-instructional ideas, beliefs) should be considered as well
as general educational objectives (scientific literacy, Bildung, development of competencies). The model of educational reconstruction
(Duit, Gropengießer & Kattmann, 2005) serves as a starting point towards a model of reconstructing curricular content for teaching and
learning science with HPS. The model will be informed by our recent
experiences with the development of HPS-based case studies together
with science teachers (Höttecke, Henke & Rieß, 2010) and research
evidence generated in a recent study about the effects of teaching and
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learning science in historical contexts (Henke & Höttecke, in print). It
will be shown how boundaries between HPS advocates and teachers
as well as learners may be crossed.
• Allchin, D. (2011). The Minnesota Case Study Collection: New
Historical Inquiry Case Studies for Nature of Science Education.
Science & Education, online first DOI 10.1007/s11191-011-9368x.
• Duit, R., Gropengießer & Kattmann, U. (2005). Towards Science Education Research that is Relevant for Improving Practice: The Model of Educational Reconstruction. In: H. Fischer
(ed.), Developing Standards in Research on Science Education.
The ESERA Summer School 2004. London: Taylor & Francis,
1-9.
• Henke, A. & Höttecke, D. (in print). Lernen über die Natur der
Naturwissenschaften. Forschendes Lernen und historische Fallstudien im Vergleich. In S. Bernholt (ed.), Konzepte fachdidaktischer Stukturierung für den Unterricht. Gesellschaft für Didaktik der Chemie und Physik. Jahrestagung in Oldenburg 2011.
Münster: LIT-Verlag .
• Höttecke, D. & Silva, C.C. (2011). Why Implementing History
and Philosophy in School Science Education is a Challenge - An
Analysis of Obstacles. Science & Education, 20(3-4), 293-316.
• Höttecke, D., Henke, A. & Rieß, F. (2010). Implementing History
and Philosophy in Science Teaching - Strategies, Methods, Results and Experiences from the European Project HIPST. Science
& Education, online first (DOI 10.1007/s11191-010-9330-3).
• Monk, M. & Osborne, J. (1997). Placing the History and Philosophy of Science on the Curriculum: A Model of Development
of Pedagogy. Science Education, 81(4), 405-425.
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Geomat.dk: Historical Instruments of Navigation Used
as Educational Tools in Mathematics
Ivan Tafteberg Jakobsen & Jesper Matthiasen
The Geomat-project (www.geomat.dk) was founded ten years ago
as a non-profit, cooperative project between upper secondary schools
in Aarhus and the Steno Museum (www.stenomuseet.dk) at the Aarhus University, Denmark. The project deals with surveying and navigation seen in a mathematical and historical light. From our website
it is possible for teachers and students to download instructions on
training, descriptions of historical instruments as well as texts as historical sources for educational purposes in mainly mathematics. All
the materials are free of charge and prepared for the use in upper
secondary schools. Furthermore schools can borrow collections of instruments with historical and professional equipment and replicas for
practical exercises locally at the schools or when visiting the Steno
Museum in Aarhus.
The paper will offer some details from the website and the collection
of instruments as well as examples of how the material is used in the
schools.
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Raising Interest in Interest
A Critical Component in Learning Science Through Stories and Informal
Learning Environments
Stephen Klassen & Cathrine Froese-Klassen
Educational psychology has recently experienced a resurgence in attention to the construct of “interest”. Typical of concepts relating to
human emotions, interest is rich and ill-defined. The authors of this
paper will present seminal research on the nature and importance of
interest to produce learning in science, identifying and illustrating the
critical components in subject matter that generate interest. These
components overlap with and, to some degree, fall short of the findings in recent research on romantic understanding and engagement in
learning science through stories. The current findings on interest have
important implications for both formal and informal learning environments in science, especially those that employ history of science.
The authors will explore and delineate the implications by means of
examples and propose guidelines for the construction of educational
materials, environments, and historical experiments and artefacts that
utilize history of science in science education.
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The European Union Project S@TM
An Approach to Science Education through Storytelling
Panos Kokkotas
Storytelling is one of the approaches that have recently become favorable in applying the history of science in science education. This
is the topic of a new project (S@TM) funded by the European Commission, which aims to contribute to the professional development of
secondary-school science teachers. In this project, we are developing 18
historically based stories, six from each of the fields of physics, chemistry, and biology. These stories could be used in teaching fundamental
concepts such as energy, atomism, nourishment, or the perception of
the world through our senses. In doing so, the traditional academic
approach is subordinated to a humanistic rendering of the science
disciplines, including aspects of the nature of science. These stories
are developed together with additional educational materials in order
to promote science education. All materials, among them the narrations of the stories, will be made available for formal, informal, and
non-formal learning environments through a website that is currently
under construction.
In our presentation, we will sketch the conceptual background of the
project, give some examples of the stories that are already developed
together with some insights into the website that has been developed
for the project, and show some additional educational materials with
a special focus on experiments.
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The History of a Large Technological System (the
Port-Arsenal of Brest in 18th Century) as a Resource
for Inquiry Based Science Teaching (IBST)
Sylvain Laubé
The Centre F. Viète in Brest develops research in the field of: a)
History of Science and Technology(HST) by using ICT tools; b) science education and teacher training by using IBST method. A new
master dedicated to this research area opens in the University of Brest
in september 2012. The communication will be focused about the history of the port-arsenal in Brest (France) in the 18th century. As
historians, we consider the arsenal as a Large Technological System
and as a important place for innovation in science and technology. I
will present a work in progress concerning:
• a manuscript (1767) written by an marine officer named Montier
de Longchamps about the material culture in the field of the
shipbuilding for the Royal Navy in Brest
• the interest to use such historical resource:
– for teacher training in order to initiate students to IBST
method
– to create IBST tools to be used at primary school in collaboration with museum and/or archives center
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How the Microtome and Silver Stains Helped Santiago
Ramón y Cajal to See the Intimate Relationship
between Axions and Dendrites
Barbara McMillan
Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852-1934) is little known outside of neuroscience and seldom, if ever, mentioned in introductory biology textbooks. Yet, he is considered to be the “father of modern neuroscience”
and was Spain’s first Nobel laureate sharing the 1906 physiology or
medicine prize with Camillo Golgi for their studies of the structure of
the nervous system. Cajal was trained as a physician and developed
a love of microscopy after observing the flow of corpuscles through
the blood vessels in the webbed foot of a frog. Largely self-taught in
the methods of histology and light microscopy, Cajal eventually published more that 300 major works in neuronal histology and neuronal
microanatomy and organization. In 1900, he estimated that he had
made over 12,000 drawings of nervous tissue. Many of these drawings were a consequence of studying materials that he prepared in his
kitchen laboratory using modifications to the “reazione nera” (black
reaction) discovered by Golgi. He also used a primitive Ranvier microtome and, later, an automatic microtome by Reichert, and a Verick
microscope that was replaced in 1885 by a “magnificent Zeiss microscope”. Cajal’s drawings are some of the “most beautiful scientific
illustrations ever made” and are thought to rival today’s images from
electron and confocal microscopy. This paper focuses on Cajal’s histological work and meticulous drawings, his ability to infer function from
observations, and how this led to Golgi and Cajal becoming scientific
adversaries.
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From the Real to the Surreal
The Instruments of Charles Wheatstone and the Blending of Science, Art,
and Culture.
Don Metz
Charles Wheatstone is well know in the annals of science for his contributions to the development of the electric telegraph and of course,
the infamous Wheatstone Bridge. However, as a young boy he was
apprenticed to his uncle, a luthier and seller of musical instruments.
Wheatstone’s early introduction to the fine arts coupled with his passion for science and genius for invention, lead Wheatstone to design
numerous applications in light and sound that cut across disciplines.
The kaleidoscope, concertina, the enchanted lyre, and the spectroscope
are a few examples of his innovations that not only attracted attention
in his time but remained influential througout the years with many
musicians and artists, including such luminaries as Salvador Dalı́. In
this presentation, I will highlight some of Wheatstone’s scientific contributions and their artistic relevance.
27
Hans Christian Ørsted
From the Discovery of Electromagnetism to Culture and the Soul in
Nature
Claus Michelsen
On 21 April 1820, during a lecture at the University of Copenhagen,
the Danish scientist Hans Christian Ørsted demonstrated the direct
relationship between electricity and magnetism. Ørsted was not only
a distinguished scientist but also engaged in public debate and interested in literature. He introduced the German concept of Bildung
into a Danish context, founded the College of Advanved Technology
which was later renamed the Technical University of Denmark and he
became friends with poets like H.C. Andersen. Ørsted also devoted
considerable time to philosophy and in his last paper, “The Spirit in
Nature”, he proposed a harmony between Spirit and Nature. Ørsted is
thus an outstanding example of how the separation between the cultures of science and humanities can be overcome. The paper focuses
on how the story of Ørsted’s contribution to science, culture, society
and philosophy in an educational context can contribute to a broad
interpretation of science literacy including the history of science and
its interrelations with culture, philosophy and society.
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Sparks and Shocks
Using Replicas of Historical Instruments in Museum Education
David Rhees
This paper discusses the variety of ways in which The Bakken Museum has made use of replicas or simulations of historical instruments
and experiments and demonstrations in education programs and exhibits for school children, families with children, and other museum
audiences. Early efforts were stimulated in the mid-1980s by a collaboration with Prof. Samuel Devons, who pioneered the use of historical
experiments at his “History of Science Laboratory” at Barnard College (Columbia University). This collaboration resulted in a series of
summer institutes for high school science teachers which incorporated historical simulations. An “18th-Century Electricity Kit” aimed
at middle schools also was produced. Beginning in the early 1990s,
versions of these historically-based instruments and experiments and
demonstrations were successfully integrated into school field trip programs and to a degree in school-based outreach programs developed
int late 1990s; topics include static electricity, batteries and bioelectricity, and magnetism/electromagnetism. “Science theater” programs
such as puppet shows, first-person interpretations (e.g., Benjamin
Franklin, Mary Shelley), and short plays (“War of the Currents”) also
utilize historical simulations. A new exhibit, “Ben Franklin’s Electricity Party”, uses classic 18th-century electrostatic instruments to
engage visitiors. These various uses will be analyzed in terms of their
effectiveness, the question of historical authenticity, how they compare
with similar uses at other museums, and how they are integrated with
historical stories.
29
Assessing the Impact of an Explicit Reflective
Approach to Teaching the Nature of Science
David W. Rudge, David P. Cassidy, Janice M. Fulford
& Eric M. Howe
Rudge (2004) presented an innovative approach to using the history of research on industrial melanism to help students learn issues
associated with the nature of science (NOS) using an explicit and reflective approach (c.f. Abd-El-Khalick and Lederman 2000). Rudge
et. al. (2007) presented the results of a pilot study (19 participants)
aimed at evaluating the efficacy of this unit with reference to a targeted set of NOS issues including the nature of theories and experiments, theory change, how results of experiments are interpreted, and
what role imagination and creativity play in science. In the present
paper we present the results of a more extensive quasi-experimental
mixed methods association study involving 130 undergraduate participants. The impact of the unit was assessed by means of open-ended
surveys (VNOS) and follow-up interviews with 17 participants (c.f. Lederman Abd-El-Khalick, Bell and Schwartz 2002). Student responses
were coded and ranked by means of an emergent coding schema, for
which there was substantial interrater agreement. Analysis included
a comparison of the coding of student responses before and after the
unit of instruction using the Stuart-Maxwell test for marginal homogeneity. This analysis indicates several of the questions were coded
significantly different than one would expect by chance, with both
net positive and negative impacts being recorded. The significance
of the intervention as a whole was determined by means of a Wilcoxon Signed-rank test to have had a net positive impact. The essay
concludes with a discussion of limitations of the present study and
directions for future research.
30
• Abd-El-Khalick F, Lederman N (2000) The influence of history
of science courses on students’ views of nature of science. J Res
Sci Teach 37:1057-1095.
• Lederman N, Abd-El-Khalick F, Bell R, Schwartz R (2002).
Views of nature of science questionnaire: Toward valid and meaningful assessment of learners’ conceptions of nature of science. J
Res Sci Teach 39:497-521.
• Rudge DW (2004) Using the history of research on industrial
melanism to help students better appreciate the nature of science; The mystery phenomenon: Lesson plans, In Metz D (ed)
Proceedings of the seventh international history, philosophy science teaching group meeting. Winnipeg, Canada.
• Rudge, DW; Geer, UC; Howe, EM (2007) But is it effective?
Assessing the impact of a historically-based unit. Ninth International History, Philosophy & Science Teaching (IHPST) Conference, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada, Session 4.0.3
(http://www.ucalgary.ca/ihpst07/abstracts thu.htm).
31
Abstract Thought & Delicate Experiments
A Balanced Account of the Emergence of the Concept of Energy
Christian Sichau
Immediately after the British scientist James Prescott Joule had
published an account of his delicate experiments on the mechanical
equivalent of heat in 1848, a priority dispute with the German naturalist Julius Robert Mayer started: Who was the first to establish this
equivalency and thus, by implication, the conservation of an entity
which later was named “energy”? The dispute was not only about
a chronicle of events, but much more on the valid reasoning within
science: Can such a claim be only made on the basis on delicate experiments? Whereas in written history it is possible to give a balanced
account of the emergence of the concept of energy, it is much more
difficult to do so in an exhibition due to the materiality of experiments and the power of material objects in an exhibition. Further:
with regard to science education we can make much out of Joule’s
experiments, but what about Mayer’s somewhat strange and obscure
reasoning? Should and can we confront our audience with his ideas?
And to what purpose? Given the 200th birthday of the Heilbronn naturalist Julius Robert Mayer in 2014 I will present a preliminary sketch
of an exhibition which will have to address these questions.
32
How the Early History of Computing can Enhance
Scientific Understanding
Konstantinos D. Skordoulis
The History of Computing dates back to the use of the abacus by
the Babylonians (c. 2400 BC). At a later stage, by about 200 BC,
the development of gearing technology had made it possible to built
devices in which the positions of wheels would correspond to positions of astronomical objects. Indeed, several analog computers were
constructed in ancient and medieval times to perform astronomical
calculations. These include the ’Antikythera mechanism’ (c. 100 BC),
which is generally regarded as the earliest known mechanical analog
computer and other early versions of mechanical computing devices
built by Arab and Persian astronomers and engineers around 1000
AD. The earliest Latin example with the same mode of operation,
occurs on a French astrolabe of about AD 1300. Our paper focuses on
the presentation of the only preserved Byzantine astronomical computing device kept in the London Science Museum. The instrument
dates from the late 5th century AD or the first half of the 6th century
AD. The gearing of the device resembles that of the calendrical device
described by the Arab astronomer Al-Biruni. Like Al-Biruni’s device,
the Byzantine instrument displays the shape of the Moon and its age
in days. The calendar further resembles its Islamic counterparts in
also displaying the positions of Sun and Moon in the Zodiac. Early
Byzantine gearing technology is seen to be transmitted to the Islamic
world and later to emerge in the Latin West, where it is found in the
mechanical clocks of the Middle Ages. One aspect of our study is the
interplay between evidence from historical sources and scientific knowledge in model construction, thus highlighting important aspects of the
scientific practice. Issues concerning the relations between science and
technology and of scientific and technological heritage are also discussed. The second part of our paper involves the design of a teaching
33
activity introducing students of the Greek Middle School (Gymnasium) to the function of the mechanism of the Byzantine device and
especially the function of the gear system. During this activity the
students is expected to develop an understanding of the concepts of
speed, force and rotational force (torque) related to their science curriculum and an understanding of how simple machines work related
to their technology curriculum.
34
Historical Experiments and Science Education
From Exhibition Concepts and Book Projects to Teacher Forthcoming
Education
Jürgen Teichmann
At the Deutsches Museum, München, we realised in the section of
education during more than 35 years a series of historical experiments
and apparatus for pedagogic purposes. We use these reproductions
mainly in the teacher forthcoming education within our house. Also, in
the new exhibition of astronomy, which was opened in 1992, historical
reproductions of instruments (together with a lot of originals) were
included.
The philosophy behind this program followed along these lines:
• History is a storehouse for useful but forgotten educational ideas
and objects.
• By detaching oneself from the present, the present becomes especially clear. Processes may have developed similarly in history, or
characteristic differences become evident. (One may argue that
the glasses you are wearing can best be studied by removing
them.)
• Science and technology - as new continents discovered by mankind in contrast to other areas of culture - become exciting and
meaningful. You should try ’adventure’ - excursions into history
through objects and experiments.
• In history, developments often proceed from the simple to the
complex which led mankind, for example, from basic electrostatic experiments to complex electrical communication technology. This is similar to the development of a child’s understanding.
35
• Historical case studies can be treated in detail whereas the very
complicated contemporary cases can often be discussed in the
classroom only in simplified form.
• The demonstration of the interactions between culture, science
and technology by means of appropriate historical examples
provides a further opportunity to enrich studentsı́ understanding
of science and technology.
• Experiments and apparatus can be used, in their relation to the
present, for prognostic purposes.
This program was very successful. Within the above mentioned
period of more than 35 years, more than 50.000 teachers, among them
a lot from foreign countries, were trained inside the “Kerschensteiner
Kolleg” of the Deutsches Museum. The newest development, which we
try since about 5 years, is “narrating” science by history and historical
objects.
36
Recycling 19th Century Science Teaching Instruments
for Use in the 21st Century
A New Take on the “Engaging Experience”
Steven Turner
In the second half of the 20th century, concern about the loss of
their scientific heritage led many American institutions to initiate efforts to preserve their remaining historic scientific instruments. The
majority of these instruments however had not been used for research,
but rather for science education. Finding a use for these “teaching instruments” was problematic; they were no longer appropriate for the
classroom but they were usually too historically complex for museum
exhibits. At the National Museum of American History, the necessity
of giving frequent presentations has encouraged us to think of these
historic instruments in new ways. We have learned to present them in
groups and to use the “engaging experiences” that they were designed
to produce to tell stories that are both scientific and historic. The
success of these presentations has now funded an initiative to make
them available to teachers as a series of short web-based videos.
37
Learning by Doing - Science Education in Hamburg
Observatory
Gudrun Wolfschmidt
The Hamburg Observatory in Bergedorf was built in 1912 and was
one of the most modern and largest observatories in Europe, an impressive ensemble of architecture, historical large telescopes and instruments in an astronomy parc. This ambience offers a good place
for learning, not only for historians of astronomy but also for those
who present astronomy and its history to students and to the public.
1. An association called ”Förderverein Hamburger Sternwarte e.V.”
(FHS) was founded in 1998 and is active in promoting public understanding of science through lectures, guided tours, exhibitions
and star gazing.
2. A project was initiated by the FHS to use the observatory facilities as a place for teaching astronomy to students of all ages.
The Hamburg education ministry has agreed to include more
astronomy in the curriculum and to bring students to the observatory for practical work and to create a half time position for
an astronomer as teacher and organizer. The project is called
”Astronomy Workshop”, some examples will be presented, e.g.
historical experiments and analyses of data of the Sun, Moon,
Jupiter, stars and spectra with modern material, like data from
astronomical satellites (e.g. SOHO) are made. Another project
is astronomy in every day life, for example making sundials or
rotatable celestial charts and learn how to use them.
3. Finally history of science teaching is also going on in the observatory, for example in the Schmidt Museum or in the cosmology
exhibition (e.g. gravitational lenses).
38
Grab it and you will grasp it! The aim of this out-of-school place
of learning in Hamburg Observatory is learning by doing, hands on
experience, doing science as explorers, in using historical instruments
and material for modern analysis and in contact to the astronomers
of the university. All these activities are in connection to the planned
application for Unesco world cultural heritage, in more opening up
the observatory for the public.
39
Poster Abstracts
41
The Electrical Salon
Concept and First Experiences with the History of Science in a Science
Center
Martin Engel & Peter Heering
The Electrical Salon is a special exhibition that has been developed
by the Phänomenta Flensburg and the Institut für Physik und Chemie
und ihre Didaktik of the University of Flensburg. It will use reconstructed historical instruments in order to enable visitors to see and
carry out electrical experiments from the 18th century. This should
enable on the one hand to bring electrostatics in the science center, a
field that is usually hardly represented. At the same time, the exhibition aims a reviving the atmosphere of the 18th century salon culture.
Through this approach, the genesis of electrical concepts as well as
the characteristics of the experimental practices in the Enlightenment
can be experienced and reflected. Thus, the exhibition aims at both
an understanding in the scientific aspects as well as in the historical.
The target group can be divided into two groups. The first one is
students from lower and upper secondary school. The second group
is individual regular visitors of the Phänomenta. The Electrical Salon
will run a test period during May 2012, regular opening is scheduled
for the end of September 2012. In our poster, we will discuss the
concept of the exhibition, the realization and the experiences made in
the test period.
43
Hydrostatic Density Measurement
Timo Engels
Density measurement began with the Myth of Archimede and the
crown of Hiero II. Density measurement of liquids is first reported in
a letter from Synesios of Cyrene to Hypathia.
The early 18th. century sees the emergence of an instrument, using
the phenomena, that the height of two liquid-columns, raised by the
same pressure gradient is inversely proportional to the specific weight
of the liquids. This type of instrument, that is today known as ”Hare’s
apparatus”, is often and falsely attributed to Musschenbroek.
Up to the late 19th century several instruments were invented using this principle, only to be rejected by the scientific community in
no time. The hydrostatic balance (Mohr-Westphal Balance) and the
hydrometer were more accurate and easier to handle.
The so called Litrameter, developed in 1826 by the well known U.S.
American chemist Robert Hare is the only instrument that could gain
some acceptance. Today the simplified ”Hare’s Apparatus” is mostly
used for science education. To gain a better understanding of the instruments practical use and the fascination it obviously exerts a replication of the original instrument has been constructed.
On my poster I will present the findings of my research on the hydrostatic density measurement and of the use of the replicated Litrameter.
44
“Stories” Created for Science Teaching
A Critical Analysis
Cathrine Froese-Klassen
Abstract: While the evidence for the effectiveness of the use of stories in science teaching and learning is strengthening in current research and literature, the intervention itself, namely, the story, still
suffers from a lack of definition and conception. Educators and researchers have been using the term indiscriminately when referring to
a wide array of instructional material as stories. The author of this
paper will analyze and rate samples of such instructional pieces for
their narrativity and their story attributes and recommend the use
of an objective narrativity rating schema and a criterion-based litmus
test for the application of stories in science education. This method
can be applied in science teaching in diverse settings, both formal and
informal.
45
The Depiction of the Phenomenon of Industrial
Melanism in American Biology Textbooks
Janice M. Fulford & David W. Rudge
Abstract: This poster shares an analysis of how the phenomenon
of industrial melanism is portrayed in American college biology textbooks, where it is invariably identified as a particularly well-documented
example of natural selection. The phenomenon was introduced into
textbooks in the early 1960’s in the wake of H.B.D. Kettlewell’s pioneering work on the subject, and became ubiquitous throughout the
1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Textbook accounts have been criticized for
glossing over problems in Kettlewell’s original investigations, despite
recent work by scientists that broadly supports Kettlewell’s initial
conclusions. Rudge (2000) has argued that these criticisms, far from
undermining use of this example, actually augment its value for science teaching. In a previous paper we drew attention to how visual
imagery highlighted features that make it ideal for teaching (Rudge
& Fulford, 2011). The present poster continues this investigation by
sharing the results of an analysis on industrial melanism passages in
textbooks from the 1960’s to the 2000’s. The present study assesses
the limitations of the textbook accounts by considering how the science content and the scientific process concerning the phenomenon
are portrayed. The poster displays trends in the amount of text devoted to industrial melanism, the level of detail used, and the use of
index keywords referencing the phenomenon. The poster also summarizes how the representation of industrial melanism in textbooks has
changed in the last fifty years.
• Rudge, D.W. (2000) Does Being Wrong Make Kettlewell Wrong
for Science Teaching? Journal of Biological Education 35(1): 511.
• Rudge, D. W. & Fulford, J.M. (2011) The Role of Visual Imagery
46
in Textbook Portrayals of Industrial Melanism. Pp. 630-637 In
Seroglou, F., Koulountzos, V. & Siatras, A. (eds.) Science & Culture: Promise, Challenge and Demand, Book of Proceedings for
the Eleventh International History, Philosophy & Science Teaching (IHPST) and Sixth Greek History, Philosophy and Science
Teaching Joint Conference, Aristotle University, Thessaloniki,
Greece, 1-5 July 2011, Epikentro Publications.
47
The Hallwachs Effect
Harald Goldbeck-Löwe
Wilhelm Hallwachs (1859-1922), assistant with Heinrich Hertz, examined as first the effect that electric sparks in the experiments with
electromagnetic waves were caused more frequently if the electrodes
of the spark gap were illuminated. Hallwachs in 1886 found out that
negative charge leaves some sorts of metal under the influence of short
wave ultra-violet light. This External Photoelectric effect bearing his
name was theoretically explained not before 1905 by Albert Einstein,
who for this work got the Nobel Prize.
The Hallwachs effect plays a basic role in the didactic preparation of
the historic development of the atomic models for the physics course
Elements of Quantum Physics in the upper forms of secondary schools.
On the knowledge level of the course Electricity the kinetic energy of
the electrons set free by the ultra-violet light can be determined in an
experiment with modern appliance, using the counter field method.
Results are the definitions of the sizes cutoff frequency fg and exitwork Wa on the one hand, on the other hand the proof of the linear
context E = h*f of kinetic electron energy E and frequency f of the
incident light as well as a determination of the Planck constant h.
The poster shows the historic origin of the Hallwachs effect, the
processing and the results of the experiments coherent with it as well
as the theoretical background and as a deduction the reason of the
quantum model of the light. It is of great importance that the modelcharacteristic of the concept-formations and the theoretical explanations of the processes and contexts becomes clear in the text-passages.
Besides historic portraits and photographies of actually implemented
experiments only scheme-drawings are used, because of the independence of customized appliance combinations.
48
Learning ABOUT Science
Exploring the Differences between Historical Investigative and Inquiry
Based Learning
Andreas Henke
Various teaching strategies have been proposed aiming at elaborating students’ ideas about science by explicit and reflective learning
opportunities on the nature of science (NOS). Often, these kinds of opportunities are embedded in instructional contexts on the continuum
between simulating science (e.g.inquiry-based learning) and retracing
its historical development (e.g. historical investigative learning). They
include analysing and discussing students’ school-science-related experiences to reflect upon exemplary attributes of professional science.
Research shows that different instructional contexts of (comparable)
NOS learning opportunities affect the development of students’ ideas
about science.
This contribution presents results from an explorative study comparing two instructional contexts - guided inquiry learning & historical
case studies - in their effect on student’s ideas about the methodology,
epistemology and social dimensions of science. Based on empirical
data on the developmentof students’ views on the NOS, hypotheses
are developed on how these instructional contexts’ different characteristics may account for expected as well as unexpected changes in
students’ views. It turns out that the ways students perceive the analogies between professional science and their science lessons uncover
some of the lessons’ hidden factors influencing students’ learning about
science. The poster presents the results of an exploration on how lesson
structure & social organization, historical context, selfdirectedness, instruments & materials, the purpose of experiments as well as ways of
handling evidenceand justification can shape students’ perspectives of
science teaching and - ultimately - of the nature of science.
49
Scientific Expeditions as Concept of Education in the
Extrascholar Youthwork
The Transit of Venus for the Historic Measurement and Scaling of our
Solar System
Susanne M. Hoffmann
My poster concerns the education of astronomy by remaking of historical observations and measurements, this year especially by the observation of the Venus transit in front of the sun and the measurement
of the astronomical unit.
I am organizing three exchange projects for pupils, where Russian,Norwegian and German pupils meet to observe the Venus transit
and to determine the astronomical unit on the same way as the German astronomer Johann Encke did in the 19th century. Additionally,
pupils shall learn self-determined by pointing on their own interests
analyzing the world. We will present them different methods from different epochs and probably they will be very creative to present their
results in different media, like calculations, film, role plays etc. The
poster will be a report of this project and the ongoing evaluation of
this method of teaching in extra-scholar youth work.
50
17th Century Dutch Perspective Boxes in
Mathematics Education
Claus Jensen
An ordinary perspective painting gives an illusion of space in the
plane. Combining more such perspective paintings in a proper way
may create an illusion of space in space. This is in fact what happened
in The Netherlands in the 17th century when artists for a short period
of time became fond of producing so-called Perspective Boxes, i.e.
wooden boxes having one or more peepholes through which the box’s
interior painted panels may be observed. The panels are painted according to the laws of linear perspective giving the viewer an impression of looking into a space larger than the actual box, and even often
differently shaped. All 6 preserved perspective boxes are presented
and one of them analysed in detail, identifying its principal vanishing
points and accompanying distance points. The subject has been applied in mathematics teaching in the Danish upper secondary school according to the students with considerable success, even to students
less bright in traditional mathematical subjects.
51
Beyond the Geiger-Müller Counter
Sebastian Korff
The Geiger-Müller counter was one of the first electrical devices,
which could detect α-, β- and γ- radiation. Its original name was
’Elektronenzählrohr’. Walter Müller developed it in Kiel in spring 1928
supervised by his former doctoral father Hans Geiger. Despite its great
loss of meaning in research since its development it is still present in
textbooks, in science education and of course in the mind of society
with its representative sound.
My poster will bring out some of the major results of my analysis
with the replication method under two aspects: How does the construction of a replica contribute to the history of the Geiger-Müller
counter and what can be learned in an educational context from this
experiment? The many details you have to consider before and during
the construction make this simple-looking device very complicate to
handle. Therefore building replicas in schools is not an option. Nevertheless, to enable scientific understanding in the formal learning environment of schools one can discuss the reliability of measurements
in the context of the first electrical counters for radioactivity. This
problem of reliability of data can be expanded to all measurements
which use an indirect or much more complex method of counting or
computation. This aspect of the nature of science can be transported
into science education by using this special historical instrument - or
in other words: How can a complex device in Geiger’s time and today
reach the status of a reliably functioning instrument?
52
Using the History of Research on Plate Tectonics to
Help Students Better Appreciate the Nature of
Science
Joseph M. Lane & David W. Rudge
Abstract: There is large agreement amongst science educators that
history of science has enormous potential with regard to the learning of
science and learning about science (e.g. Matthews, 1994). Essentially,
the methods to incorporate this idea are a challenge to high school
teachers, many of whom have little or no training within the history of
science. The present poster presents one way to use history of science,
and in particular, the history of A. Wegener’s research on the theory of
continental drift in relation to the development of the phenomenon of
plate tectonics. This particular poster reviews the history of research
on the phenomenon of plate tectonics. It also summarizes a set of three
lesson plans in which college level science education students are asked
to develop their own explanations of the phenomena, consider how
explanations may be tested, and the import of modern critiques of
Wegener’s work. The poster concludes by arguing how incorporating
the history of research on the phenomenon of plate tectonics, in this
way, will help students appreciate that progress in science sometimes
involves major shifts, but often involves small modifications of existing
knowledge.
• Matthews, M.R. (1994), Science Teaching: The Role of History
and Philosophy of Science. Routledge Press, New York.
53
History of Science in School Biology Textbooks
Characteristics and Consequences
Michael Markert
Educational research on the advantage of the History of Science
(HOS) often deals with case studies, presenting additional history and
therefore additional statements about the Nature of Science to be integrated into secondary school science courses. Much less attention is
given to the history that actually is present in these courses and especially inside their central medium: the science textbook. Undoubtedly,
this ’textbook history’ is the most influential form of historical representation in science education and for that reason in educated (post)industrial societies as a whole.
In my PhD-thesis I analyze the manifold historical representations
in contemporary German biology textbooks from the perspective of
the discipline of the history of science extensively discussing pedagogical frameworks and concepts. Placed at the disciplinary borderline
between science education and history of science, my research addresses questions of both fields: How HOS in science textbooks can be
characterized from the viewpoints of pedagogy and historiography?
What image of science is mediated through contemporary biology
textbooks? What role plays the history of science within the educational landscape both as a teaching object and as a discipline? The
historiographical analysis reveals a strong consensus about the formal
and didactic structure of textbook history, producing a peculiar form
of historical representation. To a considerable extend, this ’consensual
HOS’ is an effect of its contexts of production and reception. I will
argue that an improvement of textbook history is dependent upon a
more extensive understanding of such conditions and therefore historiographical expertise.
54
Millikan’s Cauldron
Martin Panusch
Millikan’s oil drop apparatus was an important materialized argument for the establishment of the atomistic theory of matter. The
experiment is popular in science education in form of several educational setups. Additionally one oil drop apparatus is on display in the
Science Storm Exhibition in the Museum for Science and Industry
in Chicago, the city where Millikan conducted his experiments. From
1909 to 1917 he and his team were working on it and published papers
about the measurement of the elementary charge and Brownian motion. Although Millikan was awarded the Nobel Price ”for his work on
the elementary charge of electricity and on the photoelectric effect”
there is still an ongoing controversy about his methods and his code
of praxis. In my research project I investigate what method or code of
practice has to be developed to obtain measurements of comparable
quality like Millikan did. Therefore a replica of Millikan’s oil drop apparatus was constructed to conduct an analysis with the replication
method.
My poster will show some results of this analysis. At this stage of my
research I am able to describe the development of the instrument and
the role of the two known artefacts which are kept in Pasadena and
Chicago. Additionally my analysis of Millikan’s mathematical evaluation methods and the contributions of his assistant illuminates his
modus operandi in an innovative way. Together with the experiences
made with the replica I can give an expanded and reflected perspective
on Millikan’s work on his famous experiment.
55
Teaching and Learning the Heuristic Role of Models in
Theory Construction in the Context of Nature of
Science
The case of Maxwell’s Idle Wheel Model
Constantina Stefanidou, Dimitris Stavrou,
Konstantinos Skordoulis
In this work we present a research, which is aiming at recognizing
teaching and learning procedures of pre-service teachers regarding the
heuristic role of models in theory construction. The relation between
scientific models and theories is viewed as one of the crucial features
of the nature of scientific knowledge (Lederman 2007). Asserting a
prominent role for history of science in nature of science teaching
(Matthews 1989, Irwin 1997, Solomon et al 1992), we use a historical episode, namely Maxwell’s mechanical model, as a case study but
also as a means for instruction. Maxwell attempted to illuminate the
workings of electromagnetic processes through mechanical analogies
although he was quite explicit in holding that his mechanical models
had nothing to do with real situations. In the present study, we follow three particular steps, conducted by Maxwell while building his
model, in order to investigate and inform pre-service teachers’ views
on the relation between models and theories. Our method of collecting
data is the so called ”teaching experiment”, which has been proven
a powerful means to investigate the development of students’ conceptions towards the science points of view (Komorek & Duit, 2004). The
interviews last two hours and the sample group consists of 36 preservice teachers, separated in 12 teams of three persons each. Data is
analyzed using qualitative content analysis methods (Mayring 2000).
The study illustrates that, at the end of the interview, students are
able to give quite satisfactory descriptions of the heuristic role of models in theory construction.
56
Bibliography
• Matthews, M.: 1989, ’A Role for History and Philosophy of Science in Science Teaching’, Interchange, 20, 3-25.
• Irwin, A.: 1997, ’Historical Case Studies: Teaching the Nature
of Science in Context’, Science Education, 84, 5-26.
• Solomon, J., Duveen, J., Scot, L., McCarthy, S.:1992, ’Teaching
About the Nature of Science through History: Action Research
in the Classroom’, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 29,
409-421.
• Lederman, N.G.: 2007, ’Nature of Science: Past, Present and
Future’. In Abell, S.K. & Lederman, N.G.: (ed.) Handbook of
Research in Science Education, Taylor & Francis Group, p.831880.
• Komorek M, Duit R.: 2004, ’The teaching experiment as a powerful method to develop and evaluate teaching and learning sequences in the domain of non-linear systems’, International Journal
of Science Education, 26(5), 619-633.
• Mayring P.: 2000, ’Qualitative Content Analysis’, Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 1(2), Art.20.
57
Can We Check by Historical Method Whether We Use
the Right Calendar?
Jozefina Turlo, Magdalena Czerwinska, Zygmunt Turlo
In our paper we put stress mostly upon pedagogy and the inquiry
method of pupils’ teaching and learning, which is based on introduction of the History and Philosophy of Science elements into science
education. Due to the close collaboration with science teachers we
have developed 2 lessons based on case study on The contribution of
Nicolaus Copernicus observations to the reform of calendar. In our life
we need calendar. The early calendars were based on sun, lunar, planets and stellar cycles. Since ancient time the Egyptian, Babylonian,
Greek, Jewish, Mayan and Roman calendars were used. The most notable was Julian calendar. However, it turned out that by 15th century
Julian calendar had drifted behind the solar calendar by more than
one week (11’14” / year). The Pope Leo X introduced idea of calendar reform, which was continued by Pope Paul III and Gregory XIII,
based e.g. on Copernicus experiments on investigation of the apparent
position of the sun in the sky in the vicinity of vernal equinox in Frombork and Olsztyn (1517). In this case students have the opportunity
to repeat the observations of Copernicus and to learn about historical
gnomonic - reflection method, used for construction of original sun
astronomical table, located at the Olsztyn Castle. By performing this
experiment students gain the interdisciplinary knowledge from physics & astronomy, history, philosophy and geography. The results of
student studies in the form of adequate plots were compared with the
Copernicus observations, improvements for the next experiments of
finding the equinoxes were proposed, and the answer on the question
whether we use the right calendar in our time was given.
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A Method for Improving Student Understanding of the
Nature Science Through the Use of the History of
Gregor Mendel’s Pea Experiments
Cody T. Williams & David W. Rudge
Teaching students about the nature of science has become a high
priority amongst science educators. However, there is not agreement
about the best way of addressing this priority. One effective method
for teaching the nature of science is the use of history science to illustrate these concepts for students (Monk & Osborne, 1996). This
poster outlines a method for teaching the nature of science and science content related to heredity using the history of Gregor Mendel’s
pea experiments. The first section of the poster reviews the history
of the study of heredity primarily during the 19th century. The next
section includes a summary of two lesson plans in which students are
asked to interpret data from Mendel’s original paper. Students first
pose their own ideas and then formulate explanations based on the
interpretations of Mendel and other prominent 19th century scientists. The final section of the poster contains an argument for why this
particular use of history is effective for teaching two specific aspects
of the nature of science.
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Unidentified Apparatus by Johann Michael Eckling
Maximilan Wottrich, Patrick Kopp, Marina Kiss-Scherle
Use of the work with such historical apparatuses: First of all, historical apparatuses represent the physical knowledge of people in the
foretime.
The manual skills were enormous and they used expensive materials.
Beyond that, those apparatuses still have their adjustment today. For
instance: The light optical microscope – it’s very important for further
developments of microscopes.
Besides, many physical proficiencies and knowledge will be lost
without those historical appliances.
Summarized, the Project Seminar wants to show the beauty of historical appliances and wants to evince the further development in
physics and technology in the past. Furthermore, the P–Seminar wants
to point out the necessity of such apparatuses to avoid the extinction
of certain technologies.
I am analyzing an apparatus, which was developed by Johann Michael Eckling, in my Project seminar ”Physical apparatuses – in the
past and today”. According to the public record office of Vienna, J.
M. Eckling is the owner of the privilege ”Advancement of the former
electrogalvanic-induction-apparatuses to assemble desirable conduction current”. It’s basically made of brass and we’re sure that it’s
pretty old, assumedly from the end of the 19th century.
It sounds possible that this apparatus quantifies electric current.
This allegation is supported by the presence of two current coils. At
the top of the tube of brass exists a toroidal micrometre. Therefore,
the apparatus ”Ohmsche Drehwaage” could be a good object of comparison.
At the bottom of the appliance are four electrical connections. You
can supply the current coils with power independently. Unfortunately,
this apparatus is not known to anybody, therefore it’s pretty complicated to get information which could be useful for the identification of
its significance.
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