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Constructivism, Relativism, and Chemical Education
Author(s) -
SCERRI ERIC
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2003.tb06118.x
Subject(s) - constructivism (international relations) , relativism , epistemology , sociology of scientific knowledge , context (archaeology) , variety (cybernetics) , sociology , pedagogy , philosophy , political science , computer science , law , politics , paleontology , international relations , artificial intelligence , biology
A bstract : Whereas most scientists are highly critical of constructivism and relativism in the context of scientific knowledge acquisition, the dominant school of chemical education researchers appears to support a variety of such positions. By reference to the views of Herron, Spencer, and Bodner, I claim that these authors are philosophically confused, and that they are presenting a damaging and anti‐scientific message to other unsuspecting educators. Part of the problem, as I argue, is a failure to distinguish between pedagogical constructivism regarding students' understanding of science, and constructivism about the way that scientific knowledge is acquired by expert scientists.