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Re: [Phys-L] strange things in chem book & scientific methods



Hear, hear.


On Sep 14, 2012, at 2:31 AM, Dr. Keith S. Taber wrote:

At 03:00 +0000 14/9/12, Paul Lulai wrote:
...Oddly, it states that there is no one single Scientific Method.


Hi, Paul

Why do you consider that odd?

Unless you take 'scientific method' to mean something so general that the term becomes virtually meaningless, surely there is no one scientific method. (Do you think it is odd because it does not sit with some of the other rather simplistic and dubious statements in the book?)

I work in the UK system where for a while we had a curriculum and assessment regime in place which encouraged students to see scientific work in terms of a simple 'control-of-variables' experimental method. One does not have to adopt an extreme Feyerabend-like perspective on scientific processes (i.e. the history of science suggests there is no such thing as scientific method) to acknowledge there are many scientific fields where such an approach is seldom adopted or even possible.

Best wishes

Keith




--

Dr. Keith S. Taber

Editor: Chemistry Education Research and Practice
(Published by the Royal Society of Chemistry)
http://www.rsc.org/publishing/journals/rp/about.asp


Book Reviews Editor: Studies in Science Education
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/03057267.asp


Senior Lecturer in Science Education
Science Education Centre
University of Cambridge Faculty of Education
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United Kingdom
http://www.educ.cam.ac.uk/staff/taber.html
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