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1.
According to a widespread philosophical opinion, science is strictly limited to investigating natural causes and putting forth natural explanations. Lacking the tools to evaluate supernatural claims, science must remain studiously neutral on questions of metaphysics. This (self-imposed) stricture, which goes under the name of ??methodological naturalism??, allows science to be divorced from metaphysical naturalism or atheism, which many people tend to associate with it. However, ruling the supernatural out of science by fiat is not only philosophically untenable, it actually provides grist to the mill of anti-evolutionism. The philosophical flaws in this conception of methodological naturalism have been gratefully exploited by advocates of intelligent design creationism to bolster their false accusations of naturalistic bias and dogmatism on the part of modern science. We argue that it promotes a misleading view of the scientific endeavor and is at odds with the foremost arguments for evolution by natural selection. Reconciling science and religion on the basis of such methodological strictures is therefore misguided.  相似文献   

2.
Several scientists, scientific institutions, and philosophers have argued that science is committed to Methodological Naturalism (MN), the view that science, by virtue of its methods, is limited to studying ‘natural’ phenomena and cannot consider or evaluate hypotheses that refer to supernatural entities. While they may in fact exist, gods, ghosts, spirits, and extrasensory or psi phenomena are inherently outside the domain of scientific investigation. Recently, Mahner (Sci Educ 3:357–371, 2012) has taken this position one step further, proposing the more radical view that science presupposes an a priori commitment not just to MN, but also to ontological naturalism (ON), the metaphysical thesis that supernatural entities and phenomena do not exist. Here, we argue that science presupposes neither MN nor ON and that science can indeed investigate supernatural hypotheses via standard methodological approaches used to evaluate any ‘non-supernatural’ claim. Science, at least ideally, is committed to the pursuit of truth about the nature of reality, whatever it may be, and hence cannot exclude the existence of the supernatural a priori, be it on methodological or metaphysical grounds, without artificially limiting its scope and power. Hypotheses referring to the supernatural or paranormal should be rejected not because they violate alleged a priori methodological or metaphysical presuppositions of the scientific enterprise, but rather because they fail to satisfy basic explanatory criteria, such as explanatory power and parsimony, which are routinely considered when evaluating claims in science and everyday life. Implications of our view for science education are discussed.  相似文献   

3.
In this paper I respond to Long’s paper in which he uses an ethnographic snapshot of a rally of scientists against the perceived ‘dumbing down’ effect of the new Answers in Genesis Museum in Kentucky to raise educational concerns about the effects of creationist influence on the science curriculum in American schools. In my response I contextualise the conflict between creationists and evolutionists in the history of the Christian Churches and in my own personal history. Furthermore I illustrate how historically there been multiple versions and interpretations of the creation story in the past resulting in much conflict and angst. Finally I suggest an integral perspective that allows us to envisage a curriculum that presents multiple perspectives to students as a possible alternative to epistemological narrow-mindedness.  相似文献   

4.
Several prominent scientists, philosophers, and scientific institutions have argued that science cannot test supernatural worldviews on the grounds that (1) science presupposes a naturalistic worldview (Naturalism) or that (2) claims involving supernatural phenomena are inherently beyond the scope of scientific investigation. The present paper argues that these assumptions are questionable and that indeed science can test supernatural claims. While scientific evidence may ultimately support a naturalistic worldview, science does not presuppose Naturalism as an a priori commitment, and supernatural claims are amenable to scientific evaluation. This conclusion challenges the rationale behind a recent judicial ruling in the United States concerning the teaching of “Intelligent Design” in public schools as an alternative to evolution and the official statements of two major scientific institutions that exert a substantial influence on science educational policies in the United States. Given that science does have implications concerning the probable truth of supernatural worldviews, claims should not be excluded a priori from science education simply because they might be characterized as supernatural, paranormal, or religious. Rather, claims should be excluded from science education when the evidence does not support them, regardless of whether they are designated as ‘natural’ or ‘supernatural’.  相似文献   

5.
A sample of 187 female students, attending a sixth‐form study day on religious studies, completed a questionnaire containing four scales concerned with assessing: attitude towards theistic religion, attitude towards science, scientism and creationism. The data demonstrated a negative correlation between attitude towards religion and attitude towards science. However, this negative correlation was transformed into a positive correlation after taking into account individual differences in the students’ views about scientism and creationism. The implications of this finding are discussed in the context of the increasing support within society for the teaching of alternatives to evolution within the science curriculum. The authors argue both that it is important to challenge scientism by developing a better understanding of the role and limits of scientific methods, and that religious belief about creation should be recognised as essentially a claim about the ontological dependence of nature rather than about the details of its origins and development.  相似文献   

6.
Teleology has been described as an intuitive cognitive bias and as a major type of student conception. There is controversy regarding whether teleological explanations are a central obstacle to, are legitimate in, or are even supportive of science learning. However, interaction in science classrooms has not yet been investigated with regard to teleology. Consequently, this study addresses the question of how teleological explanations emerge in science classroom interactions about evolution and how teachers and students address emerging teleology. In this article, we introduce a theoretical and methodological framework drawing from the sociology of knowledge and systems theory, suggesting that this framework may enrich the understanding of knowledge construction and of social practices in the science classroom because it enables distinguishing between explicit and tacit knowledge. We investigated seven secondary school units about evolution and present data from four grade-12 classes in Germany, a country with very few creationists, to contrast two ways in which teleology is addressed. In the first type, the teachers combine intentional and need-based teleological explanations with aspects of scientific theories in an ambiguous way. Contrastingly, in the second type, the teachers construct a duality between correct mechanistic and incorrect teleological explanations by discrediting preceding scientific theories. In the discussion, we argue that the presented sociological approach can also be valuable in other science education contexts, such as creationism, the nature of science and socio-scientific issues, because classroom interaction involves tacit communication, such as a tacit epistemology, which are essential grounds for the students' knowledge construction.  相似文献   

7.
New Zealand has had a national school science curriculum for more than 80 years. In the past the evolution content of this document has varied, and has at times been strongly influenced by creationist lobby groups. The ‘new’ science curriculum, to be fully implemented in 2010, places much greater emphasis than before on understanding evolution, and also on teaching the nature of science. Interplay between the two can potentially improve student understanding of the culture and processes of science in general and evolutionary theory in particular. While the explicit use of the word ‘evolution’ highlights its significance, it is necessary to provide both resources and pedagogical guidelines to support teachers in dealing with this important topic.  相似文献   

8.
America's rank among the lowest of developed countries in evolution acceptance rates is due, at least in part, to religious and political opposition. The negative correlations among religiosity, political ideology, and evolution acceptance in the United States have been documented repeatedly, and comfort with evolution varies by region with reception being especially cool in the south and southwest. Teachers are on the frontlines of the tensions between science and faith and often avoid the topic even if such avoidance violates state laws. Even non-creationist teachers in regions with creationist norms are pressured to conform to regional curricula preferences. The present study describes the outcomes of a professional development workshop that explicitly considerers motivational and identity features of largely conservative, religious science teachers residing in West Texas. Our goal was to reduce the perceived conflict between faith and science such that Christian teachers would feel less negative and more positive about the theory and teaching it, and thus more efficacious in the classroom such that they would be more willing to teach according to the standards. In a retrospective pretest-posttest design, teachers reported reductions in misconceptions and negative emotions in response to the workshop, and gains in positive emotions and self-efficacy. Change scores were particularly marked for female teachers. Moreover, the relationships between community support for teaching evolution and teacher emotions and self-efficacy were reduced post-workshop indicating that teachers became independent from the norms of their schools. Though not the first intervention to support teacher instruction of evolution, the present workshop is the first to our knowledge that seeks to integrate biological content, cognitive change, and motivational/identity models.  相似文献   

9.
Teachers face numerous challenges when teaching evolution, especially students’ creationist beliefs and religious doctrines. Although this is a subject more studied in the USA, recently studies have shown resistance towards evolution by Pentecostals groups in Brazil. In this research, we investigated the acceptance of evolution and creationism by high school students in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We applied questionnaires to students of two public high schools in the state of Rio de Janeiro, one in the capital and the other in Nilopolis, in the metropolitan region (N?=?541). Principal Components Analysis was used and two indexes of acceptance of evolution were created: (i) Acceptance of the Scientific Aspects of Evolution Factor (SA) and (ii) Acceptance of the Biblical Narrative for the Origin and Development of Living Beings Factor (BN). Data indicate that Pentecostal students have a lower mean for SA and greater for BN in comparison to other religious groups. Moreover, a model of linear regression was developed for each factor. Only for BN, being Pentecostal was statistically significant (p?<?0.05), which means that Pentecostals may accept scientific aspects of evolution, even though they accept them less than the others. Following other authors, we argue that it is essential that teachers be aware of the religious diversity that exists in the class and make a clear distinction between religious and scientific knowledge, in order to promote the understanding of scientific theories and avoid attempting to change religious beliefs.  相似文献   

10.
Scientific knowledge often appears to contradict many students' religious beliefs. Indeed, the assumptions of science appear contradictory to the metaphysical claims of many religions. This conflict is most evident in discussions of biological evolution. Teachers, in attempts to limit the controversy, often avoid this topic or teach it superficially. Recently, there has been a political effort to teach to the controversy—which some see as a way of introducing religious explanations for biological diversity into science classrooms. Many science educators reject this approach, insisting that teachers limit classroom discussions to science alone. This science only approach leaves the negotiation of alternative knowledge frameworks to students, who are often ill-prepared for such epistemological comparisons. To support students' understanding of science while maintaining their religious commitments, this article explores the utility of emphasizing the boundaries of scientific knowledge and the need to support students in their comparison of contradictory knowledge frameworks.  相似文献   

11.
The issue whether creationist accounts of the origins of life should be taught in science education alongside or even instead Darwin’s theory of evolution is controversial in many countries. In 2002 there was a controversy around teaching creationism in science classes at a secondary school in England. The research presented in this paper uses this controversy around teaching creationism/evolution as case study to find out more about the public representation of science education. Here it focuses on the question who the experts were that appeared in the press coverage and examines the role of scientific experts in this controversy. Expertise is a key resource in many public controversies involving science and can also have an impact on decision-making processes and on the public opinion. Also the way expert sources are presented in media accounts of socio-scientific controversies can have an effect on how their credibility is perceived and the arguments being made.  相似文献   

12.
This research documents the creation, implementation, and evaluation of a novel chemistry curriculum. The curriculum allowed students to create theories situated in a variety of cultures while they investigated chemical phenomena central to all civilizations; it was a way of synthesizing chemistry, the history and nature of science, inquiry, and multicultural education. Achieving both chemistry content and nature of science objectives were the main goals of the curriculum. A small sample of undergraduate students participated in the curriculum instead of attending a large lecture course. The novel curriculum covered the same chemistry topics as the large lecture course. Program efficacy was evaluated using a combination of grades, survey data, and interviews with the participating undergraduates. The results suggest that this curriculum was a successful start at engaging students and teaching them chemistry as well as nature of science concepts.  相似文献   

13.
Science and religion: implications for science educators   总被引:1,自引:0,他引:1  
A religious perspective on life shapes how and what those with such a perspective learn in science; for some students a religious perspective can hinder learning in science. For such reasons Staver’s article is to be welcomed as it proposes a new way of resolving the widely perceived discord between science and religion. Staver notes that Western thinking has traditionally postulated the existence and comprehensibility of a world that is external to and independent of human consciousness. This has led to a conception of truth, truth as correspondence, in which our knowledge corresponds to the facts in this external world. Staver rejects such a conception, preferring the conception of truth as coherence in which the links are between and among independent knowledge claims themselves rather than between a knowledge claim and reality. Staver then proposes constructivism as a vehicle potentially capable of resolving the tension between religion and science. My contention is that the resolution between science and religion that Staver proposes comes at too great a cost—both to science and to religion. Instead I defend a different version of constructivism where humans are seen as capable of generating models of reality that do provide richer and more meaningful understandings of reality, over time and with respect both to science and to religion. I argue that scientific knowledge is a subset of religious knowledge and explore the implications of this for science education in general and when teaching about evolution in particular.  相似文献   

14.
Much has been written on the subject of Darwinism and religion, but rather less on the development of Darwin’s own thinking on religious matters and how it changed over time. What were his religious, or anti-religious, beliefs? Did he believe that his theory of evolution by natural selection was incompatible with belief in a Creator? Was it his revolutionary science that turned him into an agnostic? If not, what other considerations affected his judgment? The aim of this paper is to illuminate these questions and, in so doing, to correct some popular caricatures that frequently appear when the two words ‘science’ and ‘religion’ are juxtaposed. Darwin himself reflected deeply on the theological problem of suffering and justified his naturalism on the ground that it made the deity less directly responsible for the more repulsive features of creation. The deism that he espoused at the time of writing his Origin of Species also left its mark in his conviction that it would be demeaning to the deity to suggest that its purposes could not be achieved through natural causes. The diversity of the religious responses also corrects a common misperception that there was almost unanimous hostility from religious interests.  相似文献   

15.
Educated Papua New Guineans’ conceptual ecologies need to accommodate competing and conflicting traditional ethnoscientific, Western religious and modern scientific paradigms. Papua New Guinea is a constitutionally self-declared ‘Christian country’ and evolution is a controversial issue. The upper secondary school biology syllabus contains a terminating unit on evolution but the curriculum is of expatriate design and the rapid localisation of senior educational positions makes the views of indigenous teaching personnel a high research priority, particularly in the light of the current upgrading of secondary teacher training to degree level. This paper presents data arising from a study of trainee primary and secondary science teachers’ views towards evolution education. Primary science trainees were found to exhibit a poor awareness of the centrality of evolution to modern biology. For secondary science trainees, it was found that exposure to upper secondary school biology, in spite of adding little to students’ knowledge about evolution, was associated with their increasingly positive attitudes towards evolution education, as was the dual acceptance of evolution and religious belief.  相似文献   

16.
This article proposes an alternative way of looking at religion to that proposed by Mahner and Bunge, and challenges a claim they make about a presupposition of science. From the alternative perspective there are constructive tensions rather than incompatibilities between science and religion. The article concludes with a proposed set of criteria to be used in critical reflections on faiths, religious or secular. It suggests that education would be enhanced by introducing students to the reflections and dialogues where these criteria are applicable.  相似文献   

17.
参考资料查询网站维基百科建立时间虽短,却屡受攻击,而现在它又添了一个敌人:福音派基督徒。由美国宗教活动家建立的这一网站旨在打击维基百科这一网络上最受欢迎的开放百科全书上的“自由偏见”。Conservapedia.com声称他们的网站为“越来越反基督教和反美”的维基百科提供了一个“急人所需的替代品”。保守人士说,由于维基百科全球志愿编辑团队固有的偏见,他们无法对维基百科上的文章做出改动。因此,他们选择“克隆”一个新网站,希望借此传播基督教价值观。“我曾尝试对维基百科进行编辑,但是却发现那些不公正的编辑控制着网站审查或更改事实来迎合他们自己的观点,”保守百科的创立者安迪·施拉夫利告诉《卫报》,“有一次,我据实的编辑在60秒之内就被删除了。”施拉夫利在保守百科上所列的批评言辞中解释了有多少文章经常使用英式英语而非美式英语的拼写并宣称维基百科“拒绝”给予基督教在文艺复兴时期的足够荣誉。“任何于进化论相悖的事实几乎都被立即审查,”他接着说。目前,保守百科的创立已经遭致了网络界的诸多嘲讽。  相似文献   

18.
Recent research in science and technology studies changed the way we understand science as it is practiced—that is, how scientific knowledge emerges from social, natural, social, political, cultural, historical, and economic contingencies of scientific work. Many science educators agree that students should learn not only science but also about science. In this article, we (a) outline important findings, research methods, and ways of reporting research that emerged from science and technology studies; and (b) show how familiarity with science and technology studies research can provide science educators with valuable insights about curriculum design and research on learning. We conclude that science and technology studies can serve as a resource to science education and that there is a potential for conducting collaborative work between science education and science and technology studies. Such collaborations have the potential to yield better theories about how people become competent in science from childhood to adulthood. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 35: 213–235, 1998.  相似文献   

19.
Popular demands for greater access to higher education may have diluted the “college isn't for everyone” claim, but some members of the privileged class are making a more subtle argument: A classical liberal arts curriculum should be reserved for the elite with low and middle income students receiving vocational training. In this article, we examine the historical and contemporary manifestations of differentiated educational experiences based on class and highlight how this bifurcated phenomenon continues to surface within post-secondary's newest venue—online education. Drawing upon the theoretical tenets of knowledge production and class formation, the methodology section of this article constructs a multilayered sequence model to analyze how the college admission process reinforces this binary in stark, yet unassuming, ways. We present the resulting social justice implications in terms of students’ participation in a classist educational system as well as the antidemocratic repercussions for public institutions. Lastly, we call for recommendations designed to bolster public education's commitment to critically educate all students and to restore its bedrock democratic mission.  相似文献   

20.
Steven Vertovec (2006, 2007) has recently offered a re-interpretation of population diversity in large urban centres due to a considerable increase in immigration patterns in the UK. This complex scenario called superdiversity has been conceptualised to help illuminate significant interactions of variables such as religion, language, gender, age, nationality, labour market and population distribution on a larger scale. The interrelationships of these themes have fundamental implications in a variety of community environments, but especially within our schools. Today, London schools have over 300 languages being spoken by students, all of whom have diverse backgrounds, bringing with them a wealth of experience and, most critically, their own set of religious beliefs. At the same time, Science is a compulsory subject in England’s national curriculum, where it requires teachers to deal with important scientific frameworks about the world; teaching about the origins of the universe, life on Earth, human evolution and other topics, which are often in conflict with students’ religious views. In order to cope with this dynamic and thought-provoking environment, science initial teacher education (SITE)—especially those catering large urban centres—must evolve to equip science teachers with a meaningful understanding of how to handle a superdiverse science classroom, taking the discourse of inclusion beyond its formal boundaries. Thus, this original position paper addresses how the role of SITE may be re-conceptualised and re-framed in light of the immense challenges of superdiversity as well as how science teachers, as enactors of the science curriculum, must adapt to cater to these changes. This is also the first in a series of papers emerging from an empirical research project trying to capture science teacher educators’ own views on religio-scientific issues and their positions on the place of these issues within science teacher education and the science classroom.  相似文献   

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