Time for Science Education: How Teaching the History and Philosophy of Pendulum Motion can Contribute to Science Literacy: 8 (Innovations in Science Education and Technology, 8) - Softcover

Matthews, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0306458802 ISBN 13: 9780306458804

Publisher: Springer, 2000

Synopsis

The book demonstrates the importance of history and philosophy of science for science education. It provides a case study of the pendulum, showing the pivotal role played by the pendulum in the Scientific Revolution. It describes how the pendulum enabled the creation of accurate clocks that, among other things, enabled the long-standing problem of longitude to be solved. The book charts how the solution of the longitude problem was of enormous social, economic and cultural significance for European and consequently world history. Further, the book shows how the discovery of the laws of pendulum motion by Galileo, Huygens and Newton hinged on the acceptance of a new methodology for science. The pendulum laws are a window through which to view the fascinating mixture of experiment, mathematics and philosophy that characterized the foundations of modern science - the Galilean-Newtonian paradigm - and distinguished it from Aristotelian, medieval and commonsense science. The book covers: learning about the nature of science; navigation and the longitude problem; ancient and medieval timekeeping; Galileo's analysis of pendulum motion; Huygens, Hooke, Newton and the pendulum; clocks and culture; science and philosophy; the mechanical world view; teaching about time and pendulum motion; and teacher education and culture. The book defends a liberal, or contextual, approach to the teaching of science. It shows how understanding the scientific, philosophical and cultural contexts and ramifications of the pendulum laws can allow teachers to plan more engaging lessons, and conduct informative historical- investigative experiments. Students can re-live history. Contextual understanding of the pendulum allows connections to be made with other parts of the science curriculum, and with other subject areas such as geography, literature, religion, music and mathematics. Readers will come away with a deeper

About this title

Review

`Michael Matthews ... has just published a book that should be read by all serious physics educationists. ... Given the lamentable lack of books on physics education that try to show how the history and philosophy of science can be incorporated into real physics, Matthew's book is highly recommended.'
Ivan Slade in Physics World, February 2001
`I recommend this wide-ranging and fascinating book to all science educators, and I hope that Matthew will publish a shortened version of it for science (physics) educators and classroom teachers. The story of the pendulum, as told here, would enliven the physics classroom and make it reach beyond the textbook.'
CJSMTE/RCESMT, 1:4 (2001)
`Mathew's book is a true work of scholarship and I have no hesitation in urging anyone interested in informing debates about science education to read it from cover to cover.'
Studies in Science Education

Edition details

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0306458802
• ISBN 13: 9780306458804
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 468