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ERIC Number: EJ1258415
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020-Jun
Pages: 28
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0926-7220
EISSN: N/A
Can Faraday's "The Chemical History of a Candle" Inform the Teaching of Experimentation? An Hermeneutic Approach for Teaching Scientific Inquiry from a Proven Historical Exemplar
Emden, Markus; Gerwig, Mario
Science & Education, v29 n3 p589-616 Jun 2020
Michael Faraday is considered one of the greatest science lecturers in history. He popularized the Christmas Lectures as a format of science communication that has survived until today in the Royal Institution of Great Britain. Especially, his "Chemical History of a Candle" has become a classic of science communication that has inspired numerous approaches to science teaching. Science educators have appreciated the wealth of factual knowledge to be derived from working with the candle ("knowing science"). In light of a more recent philosophy of science education, which advocates for an increased focus on aspects of scientific inquiry ("doing science") to balance a mere amassing of facts, this article undertakes to analyze Faraday's lectures with regard to their potential benefits for teaching scientific inquiry. It does so by referring to a proven teaching unit from the Art of Teaching. This approach will be briefly introduced along with the teaching unit. Hermeneutic analysis of original sources and secondary literature will illustrate how Faraday's lecture and his views on experimentation can inform an augmentation of the teaching unit. It will be shown that the strength of Faraday's lectures does not lie in its epistemological virtues. A theoretical explanation for this finding is provided from instructional psychology. Concerning the hallmarks of contemporary science education, Faraday's lecture still goes beyond a mere communication of facts. Adapted to the classroom, it can improve introductory science lessons exploiting the affective benefits to be gathered from performing easy-to-do and impressive-to-watch investigations.
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A