Table of Contents
Preface xiii
Chapter 1 Introduction 1
A Story of Science 1
What Is Science? 2
The Nature of Science 3
Interrelated Sciences 6
Characteristics of Science 6
Relations Between Science and Society 9
Thought Questions 9
Science Changes 12
Spontaneous Generation 13
Science as Inquiry 16
Dichotomies 19
Chapter 2 The Philosophy of Science 23
Introduction 23
Early Philosophical Underpinnings 25
Ancient Philosophy 26
Introduction to Argumentation 27
Evaluating Scientific Research-Argumentation Analysis 27
Typology of Argumentation 32
Rhetorical vs. Dialogic Argumentation 34
Positivism 36
Modern Branching of the Philosophy of Science 36
Post-Positivism 36
Relativism 38
Realism 38
Chapter 3 Scientific Research 43
Introduction 43
Observation and Selection of a Problem 44
Hypotheses 45
Scientific Investigations 46
Experimentation 46
Sampling 47
Bias 49
Data Analysis 50
Quantitative Analysis 50
Qualitative Analysis 50
Results 51
Discussion 51
Scientific Modeling 51
Nonexperimental Research 53
Analyzing Research: The Incredible Potato 54
Chapter 4 Math Gives Science Power 59
Introduction 59
Hypotheses and Statistical Error 61
Measures of Central Tendency 62
Analysis of Distributions 62
Statistical Tests I: The Correlation 63
Deception and Correlation 67
Statistical Tests II: Comparing Group Means 69
Chapter 5 The History of Science 73
Introduction 74
Aristotelian Views 75
Ancient Disagreement Discovered 78
Changing Viewpoints 79
The Copernican Revolution 79
A New Physics 81
The Birth of Newtonian Physics 82
Revolution Spreads 85
The Enlightenment 86
Bridging to the Twenty-First Century 87
Rosalind Franklin and DNA 88
Breakthroughs to "Smaller" Science 90
Chapter 6 Science and Society 95
Factors Driving the Interaction Between Science and Society 95
Positivist Perspective 96
Social Constructivist Perspective 97
Personal Responsibility and Conscience 101
Ethical Dilemmas 102
Human vs. Natural Law 105
Proximate vs. Ultimate Causation 106
Are Humans Inherently Good or Bad? 107
Chapter 7 Scientific Rewards 115
Scientists Are Their Own Society 115
Peer Review 117
Rewards 118
Becoming a Scientist 118
Chapter 8 Scientific Integrity vs. Pseudosciences 123
Honesty 123
Pseudoscience 126
More Popular Pseudoscience 127
Less Popular Pseudoscience 130
Psychological Causes and Implications of Pseudosciences 131
Chapter 9 An Age of Optimism 135
Major Controversies in Science Progression 135
Short Timers 136
Science as Solutions 137
Rapid Advances in the Early Twentieth Century 139
Deceleration 141
Less Optimism 141
The Next Big Innovative Revolution 143
Chapter 10 Roadblocks to Science 145
STEM Drives the Economy 145
Societal Challenges to STEM 145
International Comparisons 146
Improving Science Education 148
Critical Reasoning as the Main Threat to Science 148
Defining Reasoning 148
Current Science Teaching and Reasoning 149
Reasoning and Impacts on Science Learning 149
Theories of Reasoning Development in the Science Classroom 150
Research Studies on Reasoning and Instruction 153
Chapter 11 Teaching Critical Thinking 159
Improving Reasoning 159
What Is Critical Thinking? 161
Critical Thinking Strategies 161
Affective Strategies 163
Cognitive Strategies 165
How to Think Critically in Our Society: Facebook Study 168
Media's Role in Critical Evaluation 168
Chapter 12 A Modem Synthesis 173
Earthquakes 173
Science as an Integrated Paradigm 177
Tracing Themes in the Four Sciences: Bringing the Sciences Together 177
Science Literacy: Things Everyone Should Know in the Sciences 181
Physics 181
Chemistry 185
Biology 193
Geology 200
Teaching Science as an Integrated Subject 204
College Science Standards 205
Chapter 13 Science Education: The Need for Good People in Science 209
Introduction 210
The High School/College Science Divide 210
The State of Science Teaching 211
Instruction and the "Chilly Climate Hypothesis" 212
Personal Contact with Faculty 214
Women and Underrepresented Minority Groups in Science 215
Differing STEM Faculty Expectations for Success 216
Epistemological Assumptions 218
The Need for Change 218
Chapter 14 Science at Risk 223
Introduction 223
The Fall of U.S. Dominance in STEM Areas 224
The Rise of the Rest 227
Future of Science Progress in the Twenty-First Century 227
Improvements to Science Education Are Our Link to Success 228
Recommendations 230
Glossary 233
Index 255
