In France, as well as in several other countries, the cell concept is introduced at school by two juxtaposed drawings, a plant cell and an animal cell. After indicating the didactic obstacles associated with this presentation, this paper focuses on the reasons underlying the persistence of these two prototypes, through three complementary…

In this paper, the main points of Lamarck's and Darwin's theoretical conceptual schemes about evolution are compared to those derived from 15 years old students' explanations of evolutionary episodes. We suggest that secondary students' preconceptions should not be characterized as "Lamarckian", because they are essentially different from the…

This paper presents and discusses examples of works of art which, if included in science curricula, could prompt an understanding by students of some concepts in optics through a discussion of the context in which they were created. Such discussion would elucidate the meaning of the artworks and, at the same time, challenge students'…

This study is addressing both upper secondary students' views of whether it is possible to combine a scientific view of the universe with a religious conviction, and their views of miracles. Students are asked about their own views as well as the views they associate with physics. The study shows that in some cases the students' own views differ…

Introductory biology textbooks often use the example of sickle-cell anemia to illustrate the concept of heterozygote protection. Ordinarily scientists expect the frequency of a gene associated with a debilitating illness would be low owing to its continual elimination by natural selection. The gene that causes sickle-cell anemia, however, has a…

In the late 1950s, when a new curriculum for the Danish upper secondary school was under construction, the reform debates on science were strongly concerned with the scarcity of technologically and scientifically educated labour, and thus relations between science, technology and welfare were stressed. Simultaneously however, the relationship…

The growing awareness of serious difficulties in the learning of energy issues has produced a great deal of research, most of which is focused on specific conceptual aspects. In our opinion, the difficulties pointed out in the literature are interrelated and connected to other aspects (conceptual "as well as" procedural and axiological), which are…

Throughout its long history, the conceptual change literature assumed that student "misconceptions" in mechanics have been formed prior to instruction. As an attempt to shed light on conceptual change, this paper examines some of the trends in the literature and argues that misconceptions may be spontaneous rather than preformed, that schema…

Premising that place of instruction as the primary site of reproduction of world views are crucial for study of meaning change in the science and that the roles of authorship, production, distribution and reception of works within particular sciences and particular periods are important to understand the history of science education, this study…

Teachers of science and the history of science may wish to enliven and contextualise their subject matter by citing literary references to scientific ideas; similarly, teachers of literature may wish to examine the impact of science on their own field. Both groups of scholars may wish to examine how science and literature inform each other in…

In this work, we presented an analysis of the representation of the special relativity theory (SRT) in the most used texts in high school, Polimodal level and university level in the teaching in the Argentine Republic, from a historic, epistemological and didactic perspective. The results show that none of the analyzed texts would allow a…

The article investigates the "Theory of Knowledge" course of the "International Baccalaureate Organization." After a short overview of the aims and objectives of the course, the assessment criteria and a popular textbook are investigated. Shortcomings concerning the treatment of the natural sciences are highlighted and the problem is generalised…

We summarize a conference on scientific inquiry bringing together science educators, cognitive scientists and philosophers of science with three goals: (1) to establish how much consensus exists about scientific inquiry; (2) to discuss implications of that consensus for teaching science; and (3) to identify areas where consensus is lacking to…

Today there are little more of 3 million chemist all over the world producing about 800,000 papers a year. They produce new substances--from some hundreds in 1800 to about 20 million now--the vast majority artificial. This rate is growing quite fast. Once the majority of chemistry teachers all over the world used textbooks as the main (sometimes…

While it is a commonplace in the historiography of electricity that itinerant lecturers and instrument makers were "somehow" part of the "electrical flare" of the 18th century, very little is actually known about them, about their background, their careers and their self-understanding. Yet, research focusing on these…