Franklin University Franklin University
FUSE (Franklin University Scholarly Exchange) FUSE (Franklin University Scholarly Exchange)
Learning Showcase 2014 International Institute for Innovative Instruction
11-14-2014
Teaching Science as Critical Thinking Teaching Science as Critical Thinking
Isidoro Talavera Franklin University, [email protected]
Follow this and additional works at: https://fuse.franklin.edu/ss2014
Part of the Science and Mathematics Education Commons
Recommended Citation Recommended Citation Talavera, Isidoro, "Teaching Science as Critical Thinking" (2014). Learning Showcase 2014. 27. https://fuse.franklin.edu/ss2014/27
This Presentation is brought to you for free and open access by the International Institute for Innovative Instruction at FUSE (Franklin University Scholarly Exchange). It has been accepted for inclusion in Learning Showcase 2014 by an authorized administrator of FUSE (Franklin University Scholarly Exchange). For more information, please contact [email protected].
Dr. Isidoro Talavera, Professor and Lead Faculty, Philosophy
TEACHING SCIENCE AS CRITICAL THINKING
Department of Humanities & Communication Arts, Franklin University
Inductive Argument
EmpiricismDeductive Argument
Rationalism
Probability & Statistics
Parts (How?)
Math
Whole (Why?)
Informal Logic
Formal Logic
Justification of truthScientific
Knowledge
Justified true belief
Truth
Correspondence with the physical
world
Valid argumentfor the truth of a claim
Matters of fact
Relations of ideas
Belief
Uncertainty Certainty
Skeptical attitude
Scientific Means & Methods
Argument Argument
“…[S]cience education helps students indirectly by pushing them to develop the critical thinking skills necessary to evaluate all kinds of phenomena, scientific, pseudoscientic, and other” (Lee, p. 136). Accordingly, the means and methods employed in science are defined and determined by “…any procedure [of analysis and evaluation] that serves systematically to eliminate reasonable grounds for doubt…” (Schick and Vaughn, p. 173).
Without a skeptical attitude, natural human biases and limitations would inevitably lead a
person to hang on to a preferred hypothesis and ignore or resist all other alternatives. This could lead to a gradual hardening of beliefs that would
seriously impede scientific inquiry and the attainment of scientific knowledge.
To teach science as critical thinking is to foment a skeptical attitude in our students so that
they do not relinquish their mental capacity to engage the
world critically viaanalysis and evaluation. CONCEPTUAL MAP: ACQUISITION OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE
BIBLOGRAPHY
Bassham, G., W. Irwin, H. Nardone, and J. M. Wallace. 2008. Critical thinking: A student’s introduction. 3rd ed. New York:
McGraw-Hill.
Bronowski, J. 1978. The common sense of science. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Caste, N. J., and J. H. Kiersky. 1995. Thinking critically: Techniques for logical reasoning. St. Paul: West Publishing Co.
Epstein, R. L., and C. Kernberger. 2006. The pocket guide to critical thinking. Belmont: Wadsworth.
Huxley, T. H. 1880. The crayfish: An introduction to the study of zoology. New York: D. Appleton.
Lee, J. A. 2000. The scientific endeavor: A primer on scientific principles and practice. San Francisco: Addison Wesley Longman.
Mayfield, M. 2001. Thinking for yourself: Developing critical thinking skills through reading and writing. USA: Thompson
Learning, Inc.
Nolt, J., and D. Rohatyn. 1988. Schaum’s outline of theory and problems of logic. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.
Popper, K. R. 1963. Conjectures and refutations: The growth of scientific knowledge. London: Routledge.
Rutherford, F. J., and A. Ahlgren. 1990. Science for all Americans. New York: Oxford University Press.
Schick Jr., T., and L. Vaughn. 2008. How to think about weird things: Critical thinking for a new age. 5th ed. New York: McGraw-
Hill.
Talavera, I. 2011. Beyond ethical codes: A call for critical thinking in religious culture. The Forum on Public Policy: A Journal of the
Oxford Round Table, 2011 (November): 1-14.
Talavera, I. 2012. Science and religion: Drawing the line. The Forum on Public Policy: A Journal of the Oxford Round Table, 2012
(November): 1-25.
Tarski, A. 1994. Introduction to logic and to the methodology of deductive sciences. 4th ed. Edited by J. Tarski. New York: Oxford
University Press.
Weston, A. 2009. A rulebook for arguments. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Co., Inc.