Nature of science

William W. Cobern (icwwc@ASUVM.INRE.ASU.EDU)
Wed, 06 Mar 1996 12:18:54 -0700

Dear ASAers
I am a science teacher educator here at AZ State. My research has to do
with culture and belief issues as they pertain to science education. For
the last several years I have been writing in the area of faith and reason,
and next month I will be part of a panel discussion on related issues at the
annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching
(NARST). We had a similar panel discussion last year that dealt specifically
with religion and science. The discussion idea came about because in NARST
and related groups we have had some on going discussions on religion,
multiculturalism, and relativism vis-a-vis what has become known as
"canonical" science. The nature of science (e.g., universal, positive, or
socially constructed) with respect to science teaching is an important issue
thus this discussion on reaching a consensus - which of course no one
actually expects to reach!!

In my abstract I present some ideas I have been working on for sometime.
Readers of "First Things" will immediately recognize the influence of the
recent Fish/Neuhaus exchange. That exchange came at a critical time for me
as the two scholars nicely laid out the very issue I was dealing with. What
you will see however is that I have switched the debate from a
theism/materialism dichotomy to a science/relativism dichotomy. As I am
still preparing my final paper I would appreciate any criticism from those
who have the time and interest to read the following two posts.

Because of the size, the discussion organizer (Norm Lederman of Oregon)
distributed the abstracts in two e-mail messages. These are not final form
abstracts. They are being circulated for discussion purposes.
*************************************************************
William W. Cobern, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Science Education

College of Education
Arizona State University West
PO Box 37100
Phoenix, AZ 85069-7100

Voice: 602 543 6334 or 6300
FAX: 602 543 6350

Internet: icwwc@asuvm.inre.asu.edu