For some scientific ideas, it is obvious to pupils as to why they are studied. For others, a bit more work is needed before their significance becomes apparent. The concept of 'historical significance', which is used in history teaching, can help children to appreciate the enduring importance of scientific discoveries and events. The pedagogic…

Teaching false theories goes against the general pedagogical and philosophical belief that we must only teach and learn what is true. In general, the goal of pedagogy is taken to be epistemic: to gain knowledge and avoid ignorance. In this article, I argue that for realists and antirealists alike, epistemological and pedagogical goals have to come…

Many science teachers are presented with the challenge of characterizing science as a dynamic, human endeavour. Perspectivism, as a hermeneutic philosophy of science, has the potential to be a learning tool for teachers as they elucidate the complex nature of science. Developed earlier by Nietzsche and others, perspectivism has recently re-emerged…

The aim of this research was to explore the effects of two approaches, designated as the historical and the contemporary one, on the level of students' understanding of the properties and the practical use of gases. Our research hypothesis was that the historical context of the discovery of gases and the study of their properties would deepen…

Accidental discoveries have been of significant value in the progress of science. Although accidental discoveries are more common in pharmacology and chemistry, other branches of science have also benefited from such discoveries. While most discoveries are the result of persistent research, famous accidental discoveries provide a fascinating…

This paper analyses the real origin and nature of scientific errors against claims of science critics, by examining a number of examples from the history of electricity and optics. This analysis leads to a conclusion that errors are a natural and unavoidable part of scientific process. If made available to students, through their science teachers,…

This paper discusses the findings of a search for the intellectual tools used by Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) in his chemistry, education, and theology documents. Priestley's enquiring democratic view of knowledge was applicable in all three areas and constitutes a significant part of his lifework. Current epistemological issues in science…

A teacher and a college student explore experimental science and its history by reading historical texts, and responding with replications and experiments of their own. A curriculum of ever-widening possibilities evolves in their ongoing interactions with each other, history, and such materials as pendulums, flame, and resonant singing tubes.…

Monk and Osborne ("Sci Educ" 81:405-424, 1997) provide a rigorous justification for why history and philosophy of science should be incorporated as an integral component of instruction and a model for how history of science should be used to promote learning of and about science. In the following essay we critique how history of science is used on…

Very often science is taught in schools devoid of the people and events behind the research. Yet there is much that can be discovered about the nature of science when we examine the lives of scientists. Recently I read James Watson's "The Double Helix" and Brenda Maddox's biography of Rosalind Franklin, "Rosalind Franklin The Dark Lady of DNA." It…

The isolation of oxygen by Joseph Priestley is placed in the broader context of the study of nitrogen, oxygen, and the nitrogen oxides. (GS)

Interviews with key scientists involved in research on severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), together with analysis of media reports and documentaries produced during and after the SARS epidemic, revealed many interesting aspects of nature of science (NOS) and authentic scientific inquiry. This novel insight into practice in the rapidly…

The author describes a 1934 visit to the Berkeley radiation laboratory. The state of physics at that time and the life of persons doing basic physics research in radiation are discussed. (JP)

Concludes that Carl Scheele first observed oxygen and clearly understood what he was observing in June 1771, when he heated manganese dioxide with concentrated sulfuric acid. This was more than three years before Lavoisier or Priestley (who is usually credited with the discovery of oxygen) made similar observations. (Author/MLH)

Summarizes Charles Wheatstone's 1843 paper introducing the Wheatstone bridge and the rheostat. (SL)