Teaching the Nature of Science in a Course in Sustainable Agriculture
Teaching the Nature of Science in a Course in Sustainable Agriculture
复制标题
在可持续农业课程中教授科学本质
DOI：
--
复制
发表时间：
2013
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
S. J. Horst
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
S. Cessna;D. Neufeld;S. J. Horst
关于某一农业做法的可持续性（非可持续性）的主张通常取决于科学证据和该证据的可靠性，或至少取决于对其可靠性的看法。可持续农业的倡导者可能会将科学视为纯粹主观的，或者在另一个极端，可能会不适当地将科学发现提升到纯粹客观真理的地位。因此，可持续农业和自然资源管理的学生将受益于更好地理解科学本质的专家概念;学生应该了解科学是经验性的，推理性的，理论性的，试验性的和创造性的;没有一种特定的万无一失的科学方法来揭示科学知识;而且，在可持续性方面，可能最重要的是，学生应该了解科学影响着更广泛的社会/文化背景，并受其影响。因此，我们设计了一门强调NOS理解的可持续农业课程。课程设计元素包括丰富的现实环境，探究环境（即，让学生参与小规模的园艺研究项目），明确指导NOS概念，并充分反思NOS概念与可持续发展和农业思想的交叉点。学生学习的NOS概念进行了评估之前和之后的课程，使用修改后的版本的问卷称为学生理解科学和科学探究（SUSSI）。在这里，我们提出了我们的初步发现，这表明在本学期中，我们在理解NOS方面取得了显着的学习成果，特别是在理解科学的社会/文化方面。
Claims of the (non-)sustainability of a given agricultural practice generally hinge on scientific evidence and the reliability of that evidence, or at least the perception of its reliability. Advocates of sustainable agriculture may dismiss science as purely subjective, or at the other extreme, may inappropriately elevate scientific findings to the status of pure objective truth. Thus, students of sustainable agriculture and natural resource management would benefit from gaining a better understanding of expert notions of the nature of science (NOS); students should learn that science is empirical, inferential, theory-laden, tentative, and creative; there is not one specific foolproof scientific method by which scientific knowledge is uncovered; and, probably most importantly in the context of sustainability, student should learn that science influences and is influenced by its wider social/cultural context. Thus, we have designed a course in sustainable agriculture that emphasizes NOS understanding. Course design elements include a rich real-world context, an inquiry setting (i.e., involving students in small-scale gardening research projects), explicit instruction in NOS concepts, and ample reflection on the intersection of NOS concepts with ideas of sustainability and farming. Student learning of NOS concepts was assessed before and after the course using a modified version of a questionnaire called Student Understanding of Science and Scientific Inquiry (SUSSI). Here we present our preliminary findings, which suggest that significant learning gains in the understanding of NOS occur during the semester, particularly in understanding the social/cultural aspects of science.