• Open Access

Assessing astronomy students’ views about the nature of scientific inquiry

Jennifer Blue
Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 14, 010141 – Published 15 June 2018
An article within the collection: Astronomy Education Research

Abstract

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Astronomy Education Research.] Students taking a second astronomy course for nonscientists were asked to reflect on the nature of scientific inquiry three times during the first half of the semester. First, they were assigned a short paper in which they were asked to argue for or against the thesis that observers of the night sky in ancient civilizations were scientists, and nearly all of the students argued that yes, they were. Second, they were asked to write a second paper in which they argued the opposite of their first thesis. Lastly, they were asked, on a midterm exam, to write an essay about whether the Ancient Greek astronomers were good scientists. In writing these papers and essays, many students included definitions of science or scientists, and these definitions progressed from paper to paper. In addition, the evidence students used to argue that ancient observers were scientists changed, with students becoming more expertlike.

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Received 15 May 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.14.010141

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Physics Education Research

Collections

This article appears in the following collection:

Astronomy Education Research

A special collection highlighting the current state of the field of physics education research as it relates to astronomy education research.

Authors & Affiliations

Jennifer Blue

  • Department of Physics, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056, USA

Article Text

Click to Expand

References

Click to Expand
Issue

Vol. 14, Iss. 1 — January - June 2018

Reuse & Permissions
Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Authorization Required


×
×

Images

×

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review Physics Education Research

Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

×

Log In

Cancel
×

Search


Article Lookup

Paste a citation or DOI

Enter a citation
×