Abstract Summary
Lori Maramante (Delaware Technical Community College) - Multiple science education researchers have presented findings indicating that the “scientific method” typically presented in school science does not depict what real scientists do (Abd-El-Khalick et al., 2008, Niaz & Maza, 2011, and Wong & Hodson, 2008). Shifting focus from what the practitioners of science “do” to how the discipline of science builds knowledge through the collective action of its practitioners allows one to see an inherent logic framework, which is central to the discipline of science. The Science Logic Framework is a useful curriculum tool for science education. The framework illustrates the different roles deductive and inductive reasoning. Primary level investigations use either deductive (experimental) methods or inductive research study methods. The investigations that make up this first tier form the ever-expanding base of the logic framework. A second tier of scientific investigation, exemplified by reviews and meta-analyses, uses inductive reasoning to synthesize findings from multiple primary level investigations to come to higher ordered conceptual findings. Competing hypotheses can play out in this messy middle. A third tier of analysis involves synthesis of studies from the secondary level of analysis. Analysis at this tier can give rise to theories with broad explanatory power. This central science logic framework allows science to develop knowledge using the complementary strengths of deduction and induction. Many of the key characteristics of scientific knowledge flow directly from this logic model, such as the tentative yet durable nature of scientific knowledge, the important but limited role of reproducibility, the predictive and iterative nature of science and the value placed on skepticism and parsimonious explanations. In this session, I will present the Science Logic Framework and give empirical examples of scientific knowledge building in relation to this curricular tool (Does Zika Virus cause microcephaly? Is Red Wind Good for You? How did Amazonia become so diverse?).
