Epistemology and History in Science Education and Communication

Code:

EDCDIVC6001

Acronym:

EDCDIVC6001

Level:

600

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Science Education and Dissemination of Science

Instance: 2023/2024 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Science Education Unit
Course/CS Responsible:	Doctoral Program in Science Education and Communication

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
PDEDC	13	Official Study Plan since 2023/2024.	1	-	6	35	162

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

Students will be able to:
i) To understand nature of science in middle age, in modern age and in contemporary age.
ii) To know and to critically analyze diverse philosophical and epistemological conceptions and problems related to the construction of scientific knowledge.
iii) To develop a broader and critically conception about the development of scientific knowledge.
iv) To discuss about the importance of nature of science in science teaching.
v) v) Give students elements of the history of science in its aspect of F/Q/B/G/M/A
vi) vi) Discuss the major historical controversies of F/Q/B/G/M/A
vii) vii) Understand the importance and important role that F/Q/B/G/M/A assumed in the scientific evolution and development of humanity
viii) viii) Analyze the evolutionary perspective of the History of F/Q/B/G/M/A and the repercussions for education and communication in science.

Learning outcomes and competences

 

To know and to critically analyse contributions from the history of science and epistemology of science in the constrution of scienctific knowledge and its reflexion in science teaching.

Working method

Presencial

Program

Epistemology in Education Module
Empiricism and rationalism.
Positivism and post-positivism.
Conceptions of science and categories.
Contemporary conceptions about the nature of science.
The thesis of Karl Popper.
The thesis of Thomas Khun.
The thesis of Imre Lakatos.
The thesis of Larry Laudan.
Epistemological and historical contributions to the construction of scientific knowledge.
Some topics on Science and Religion
The nature of science in science teaching.

History of Biology Module
Brief History of Biology: Objectives, Specifics and Materials.
Biology in Antiquity: The Case of Aristotle and Theophrastus.
History of Evolution Ideas in Biology: perspectives in Science Education and Communication.
History of Cell Theory

Geology History Module
Brief evolutionary perspective of the History of Geology.
The great geological controversies.
The History of Science (Geology) in the curricula.
The role of women in geology throughout history.

History of Mathematics Module
Mathematics and Philosophy in Ancient Greece.
Astronomy as a branch of Mathematics
The contributions of the Arabs to Mathematics
The Mathematics of the Renaissance

Astronomy History Module
Astronomy in remote times: magical and mythological universes.
From mythology to science, or from cosmological questions to the emergence of Philosophy in Ancient Greece.
The Heliocentric Revolution and the importance of universities.
Beyond the Solar System: the birth of Astrophysics and contributions to scientific communication.

Chemistry History Module
Major chronological milestones in the History of Chemistry.
Alchemy as a pre-chemical activity.
Chemistry as a central science in science education and communication.

History of Physics Module
Newton's Mechanics
The unification of electromagnetism and optics in the nineteenth century
The Laws of Thermodynamics
Macrocosm and microcosm: statistical mechanics
Special and General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics
Developments subsequent to the second half of the twentieth century: gauge theories, quantum field theory and the necessary and still incomplete synthesis of general relativity with quantum mechanics (quantum gravity).

Mandatory literature

Lucena, A. D.; Filosofia de la Ciencia, Malága: Biblioteca Nueva, 2005
Chalmers, A.; What is this thing called sciene?, Buckingham: Open University Press., 1999
Guerra, A: Freitas, J.; Reis, J. C. & Braga. M. ; Galileu e o nascimento da Ciência Moderna., São Paulo: Atual Editora., 2004
Fitas, A. ; Popper, Kuhn, Lakatos. Três formas diferentes de entender a Ciência, Vértice, 2ª série, 4 : 69-77., 1988

Comments from the literature

Other Bibliography

History of Biology 

Greene, Edward Lee (1909) Landmarks of botanical history. Washington, Smithsonian institution.

De Wit, H. C. D.(1993) Histoire du development de la biologie. Três volumes. PPUR & EPFL Press

Magnin-Gonze, J. (2006) Histoire de la botanique. Delachaux et Niestlé.

Allorge, Lucile (2009) La fabuleuse odyssée des plantes. Hachette Pluriel Reference.

History of Geology

Amador, F. & Contenças, P. (2001). História da Biologia e da Geologia. Lisboa: Universidade Aberta.

Amador, F. & Pereira, A. I. (2007). A História da Ciência em manuais escolares de Ciências da Natureza.Revista Electrónica de Enseñanza de las Ciencias 6,1 (191- 216).

Hallam, A. (1992). Great Geological Controversies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

History of Mathematics 

A History of Mathematics, V. J. Katz, Addison-Wesley.

História da Matemática, M. F. Estrada, C. de Sá, J. F. Queiró et al, Universidade Aberta.

History of Astronomy    

Michael Hoskin, The Cambridge Illustrated History of Astronomy, Cambridge University Press (1997)

History of Chemistry

Philosophy of Chemistry : Synthesis of a New Discipline, Davis Baird, Eric Scerri, Lee McIntyre (eds.), Dordrecht: Springer, 2006.

Bensaude-Vincent, Bernadette & Stengers, Isabelle. História da Química. Lisboa: Instituto Piaget, 1996.

History of Physics

O Livros das Escolhas Cósmicas, Orfeu Bertolami, Editora Gradiva, 2006.
To Explain the World, Steven Weinberg,  Allen Lane, 2015.
A Revolução Científica, Alan G.R. Smith, Editorial Verbo, 1972.
Do Big Bang ao Homem, Orfeu Bertolami, Helena Couto et al., U. Porto Edições, 2015

 

Teaching methods and learning activities

Diverse strategies: PowerPoint presentations, reading and discussion of articles, lectures, group and investigation work, presentation of works and debates.

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

designation	Weight (%)
Participação presencial	5,00
Trabalho escrito	50,00
Apresentação/discussão de um trabalho científico	45,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	171,00
Frequência das aulas	35,00
Trabalho escrito	37,00
Total:	243,00

Eligibility for exams

In accordance with UP Regulation.

Calculation formula of final grade

Final classification: 50% of the result in the work done in Philosophy of Science Module and 25% in each work done in both  History of Science Modules chosen by the students.

Classification improvement

For the initial (general) philosophy of science module:
Given that this part of the UC follows the typology of distributed assessment without final exam 
(continuous assessment) and presents a very systemic nature, 
the grade improvement in this UC only can be carried out 
by repeating all the evaluation components throughout the semester and, as such, 
in the following academic year.

Observations

Educational resources available in Sigarra.