The Internet and the Truth about Science

Authors

  • George Meadows Mary Washington College
  • Aimee Howley Ohio University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v6n19.1998

Keywords:

Beliefs, Concept Formation, Distance Education, Internet, Professional Development, Science Instruction, Sciences, Scientific Attitudes, Scientific Concepts, Teacher Education

Abstract

Even though sophisticated discussion of the nature of scientific claims is taking place in the academy, public school teachers of science and mathematics may harbor naive assumptions about the way that scientific processes function to construct the "truth." Reluctant to change their prior assumptions about science, such teachers may become vulnerable to information technologies (including "low-tech" media such as textbooks and films) that construe science as a collection of facts. An on-line lesson about constructivism provided a forum in which a group of teachers revealed well-established epistemologies seemingly inimical to the principles of conceptual change teaching. Further, the strategies used by the teachers to quell a potentially interesting debate provided preliminary evidence of differences in the motives for communication in virtual, in contrast to real, communities.

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Author Biographies

George Meadows, Mary Washington College

George Meadows is an Assistant Professor in the Education Department at Mary Washington College. He received his Ed.D from West Virginia University, working in the area of science education and technology. Current interests include the use of conceptual change methods in teaching multiculturalism and the applications of art in science education.

Aimee Howley, Ohio University

Aimee Howley is Professor in the Educational Studies Department at Ohio University. Teaching primarily in the Educational Administration program, her research examines critically the theory and rhetoric that inform educational practice in the US. She is currently working on an analysis of developmentalism as an ideology, focusing particularly on it contradictory influence on US pedagogies.

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Published

1998-10-13

How to Cite

Meadows, G., & Howley, A. (1998). The Internet and the Truth about Science. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 6, 19. https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v6n19.1998

Issue

Section

Articles