Kevin D. Crowley - Designing for science: implications from everyday, classroom, and professional settings

Cover

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Implications From Everyday, Classroom, and Professional Settings

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Designing For Science

Implications From Everyday, Classroom, and Professional Settings

Edited by
Kevin Crowley
University of Pittsburgh
Christian D. Schunn
George Mason University
Takeshi Okada
Nagoya University

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The final camera copy for this work was prepared by the authors, and therefore the publisher takes no responsibility for consistency or correctness of typographical style.

Copyright 2001 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by photostat, microfilm, retrieval system, or any other means, without prior written permission of the publisher.

Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers
10 Industrial Avenue
Mahwah, NJ 07430

Cover design by Kathryn Houghtaling Lacey
and the editors. Photographs by Takeshi Okada.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Designing for science: implications from everyday, classroom, and professional settings / edited by Kevin Crowley, Christian D. Schunn, and Takeshi Okada.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-8058-3473-7 (cloth: alk. paper)
ISBN 0-8058-3474-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. ScienceStudy and teaching. 2. SciencePhilosophy.
3. ScienceMethodology. I. Crowley, Kevin D. II. Schunn,
Christian D. III. Okada, Takeshi.
Q181 .D23 2001
507.1dc21

2001016101
CIP

Books published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates are printed on acid-free paper, and their bindings are chosen for strength and durability.

Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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Dedicated to
Joseph and Barbara Crowley
Oswin, Ute, and Gabriela Schunn
Kahichiro and Eiko Okada

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Since the 1980s, impressive progress has been made toward understanding how it is that people think, and learn to think, about science in each of three distinct contexts. These contexts are: 1) the practice of science by professionals pursuing research and development in laboratories; 2) the teaching and learning of science in elementary, secondary, and college classrooms; and 3) the informal science that children and adults explore in the course of everyday activities at home or at institutions such as museums. A major component of this progress has been an increased focus on the context-specific aspects of scientific reasoning. For example, a good understanding of science is not going to help you design a good science curriculum unless you also understand a lot about a school and about the way the teachers and students interact. The same can be said for professional science or everyday science.