Current Event 1 page 1 Kevin D McMahon Student ID 78513 SED 600 February 27 2007 Current Event I A Summary Analysis Reflection of Using the History of Science to Promote Students Problem Solving Ability Huann shyang Lin Jui ying Hung and Sh chu Hung Department of Chemistry National Kaohsiung Normal University Current Event 1 page 2 Promoting Science Literacy through Historical Context What is science literacy Is it simply a mastery of science content standards If it is then our understanding of science literacy runs the risk of being reduced to disparate factoids disconnected from their rich historical social and philosophical context This context is necessary for a proper understanding of what science is and how it works Consequently when science education is deprived of this context students become less literate in science in spite of knowing more scientific data This is the point that Lynn Fendler and Steven Tuckey make when they argue that the current education regime tends to thingify scientific ideas and concepts without regard to their historical contingency Fendler Tuckey 2006 p590 They propose that an authentic understanding of science literacy requires that students learn the context in which new scientific knowledge emerges we suggest that an understanding of the historical discursive production of scientific knowledge affects the meaning of scientific literacy in at least three ways A discursive study of scientific knowledge has epistemological consequences because such a historical grounded approach avoids the selective perception that occurs when facts are abstracted form the historical conditions of their emergence Fendler Tuckey 2006 p591 Current Event 1 page 3 The Researcher s Hypotheses Huann shyang Lin and his fellow researchers proposed that scientific literacy can be enhanced through a historical approach because it would provide students with an opportunity to explore their own pre mis conceptions regarding natural phenomena we suspect that the introduction of the historical development of a concept might help students to reflect on their original ideas and appreciate the superior explanatory power of the more advanced model Lin et al 2006 p454 They further observed that science students tend to rely too heavily on algorithmic techniques in solving problems rather than reasoning skills They have suggested that a historical approach might provide a conceptual qualitative foundation upon which a quantitative algorithmic knowledge could be built In order to promote students conceptual problem solving ability it has been suggested that students learn scientific concepts qualitatively before they are met quantitatively The study reported here was designed to investigate the effectiveness of integrating history into science and focused on students qualitative understanding and application of scientific concepts Lin et al 2006 p454 Current Event 1 page 4 The Experimental Protocol To test these hypotheses Lin and his researchers conducted a one year study examining two groups of eight grade students The physical science teacher selected for the study was familiar with the history of science and was eager to implement the historyrich materials provided by the researchers Two classes of eight graders were selected for the study They both shared similar GPA s and socioeconomic backgrounds One group was randomly selected to be the experimental group This group would be taught using only the historically enriched materials provided by the researchers The control group would be taught in a manner similar to that of other Taiwanese middle school students i e through teacher directed lecture and note taking The same teacher taught both groups At the beginning of the study both groups were administered a conceptual test in which student were encouraged to answer and explain as much as possible Over the course of the year the experimental group was instructed using the historical rich materials which incorporated small group discussions student presentation teacher demonstrations and hands on activities Students were required to predict possible outcomes of an experiment to explain the reason of their predictions to make a hypothesis of a problem and to simulate previous scientists experiments Lin et al 2006 p460 Current Event 1 page 5 Students in the control group listened to lectures took notes practiced problems and did hands on experiments by following the procedures described in the laboratory manuals and followed cookbook formulae and tried to get the correct answers Lin et al 2006 p460 Analysis and Conclusion Through the study period both the experimental and control groups were given identical conceptual assessments The results were analyzed using a variety of statistical techniques including an independent t test means and standard deviations and an analysis of covariance In comparing the results of the experimental and control groups the researchers determined that after the first assessment after the pre assessment there was statistical no difference in the performance of the two groups However by the second assessment the experimental group was performing better than the control group The researchers concluded that a historical approach was effective in promoting conceptual understanding with the caveat that The slow acting effect of history in science teaching reminds teachers and educators to be patient while they are implementing this teaching approach Although the potential benefits of integrating history of science in teaching has been revealed and justified in previous studies this study further found that a short time of intervention of this approach might not be effective in student achievement in science Lin 2006 p463 This Reviewer s Assessment Current Event 1 page 6 The authors of the research articulated their hypotheses and supported it with a thorough literature review They were meticulous in their description of several of the historically rich lessons that were presented to the experimental group The study was carefully implemented and analyzed However I have two concerns 1 the design of the study and 2 the conclusions drawn from the results The question asked by the authors was Does the history of science promote students problem solving ability However the way in which the study was conducted it might just as well have asked Does small group discussion student presentations teacher demonstration hand on activities in which student predict