Learning About Conceptual Understanding by Examining the History of Science

The NSTA publishes a list of science books that includes outstanding, historical scientists like Galileo and inspiring science books like Science for all Americans (AAAS 1988) and Benchmarks for Science Literacy (2009). Science historians are scholars who delve into the original works of the scientists and try to understand their thinking, philosophy and background. They try to explain why some scientists changed their theoretical views radically, for example for many centuries, Aristotle’s notion that the earth comprised of five elements, air, heat, earth or solid, water, and “aether” or heavenly matter, was accepted. Aristotle’s views were logical and not experimental, therefore “unscientific”, but he is regarded as the father of science because he introduced scientific inquisition. In the Age of Enlightenment, modern scientists like Galileo and Descartes introduced new scientific thinking that emphasized on knowledge by experimentation. The Catholic Church opposed the new-age western scientists for example when in 1510AD Copernicus suggested that the earth goes round the sun and not the other way. Modern scientists like Newton, Babbage, and Darwin, emphasized on creating scientific laws by recordkeeping, establishing paradigms, replication by experiment, debate, and establishment of principles. They articulated their ideas through scholarly societies, similar to modern classes and laboratories.

Nature of Science and Conceptual Understanding

Science makes people aware of their surroundings and explains why and how phenomena occur, which helps decision makers to make predictable decisions with clear outcomes. Acceptance of decisions is based on scientific knowledge, approach to inquiry, and acceptance of science knowledge, which is acquired through theory, supposition and investigation.

Science is not just a collection of facts, but includes understanding of facts of natural systems, and revision and extension of such knowledge. The distinction between scientific method and practice, is that scientific method follows logic and reasoning that do not conform to a pattern and therefore help to make discoveries, while scientific practice is based on a fixed and systematic pattern of hypothesis, testing and concluding, which help to confirm a notion.