María A. Rodríguez

TEACHING CHEMISTRY AS RHETORIC OF CONCLUSIONS OR HEURISTIC PRINCIPLES - A HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE

This study has the following objectives: a) To show how the importance of history of chemistry has been recognized in the classroom, starting from the 1920s to the present; and b) How criteria based on history and philosophy of science can be used to evaluate presentation of atomic structure in general chemistry textbooks. Results obtained show that most of the new (1970-92) and old (1929-67) textbooks not only ignore the history and philosophy of science but also present experimental findings as a ‘rhetoric of conclusions.’ It is concluded that such presentations are not conducive towards a better understanding of scientific progress. It is suggested that history and philosophy of science can be introduced in the classroom not necessarily through formal courses in the history of chemistry or comments and anecdotes, but rather by incorporating the ‘heuristic principles’ that guided the scientists to elaborate their theories. [Chem. Educ. Res. Pract. Eur.: 2000, 1, 315-322]

DO WE HAVE TO INTRODUCE HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE OR IS IT ALREADY ‘INSIDE’ CHEMISTRY?

The main objective of this article is to review literature in order to show how history and philosophy of science (HPS) is already ‘inside’ chemistry and we do not have to wait or ask for its inclusion in the curriculum. Examples are provided from the topics of atomic structure, kinetic theory, covalent bond, and the law of multiple proportion, to illustrate how an HPS perspective can facilitate students’ conceptual understanding. [Chem. Educ. Res. Pract. Eur.: 2001, 2, 159-164]

Improving learning by discussing controversies in 20th century physics

Textbooks rarely emphasize how controversial some physics theories were at the time of their proposal. Useful classroom debate can be generated by considering the controversy that arose over models of the atom such as Rutherfords and Bohrs and ideas about fractional charges put forward by Millikan and arising from quark theory.