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International Workshop on the History of Science:
Implications for Science Education
22nd to 26th February 1999
First Announcement
Organized by Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE),
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, INDIA.
Formal science teaching and learning at school has remained relatively
insulated from currents in the history or philosophy of science. Lay
history of science is largely made up of unreflective hand-me-downs that
have served more to obscure and mystify the nature and practice of
science than to clarify it or to convey the excitement of its
critical episodes. Yet, the large body of work in the history of
science that has accumulated over the last few decades offers us a
broader and more mature picture of science and is a rich resource for
communicating a dynamic and living image of science.
The implications of history and philosophy of science are various and
profound. Much attention has been focussed on the philosophical
challenge of rethinking our early notions of scientific
objectivity. In the literature on science learning, we find a
resurgent concern with relating the learning of science to its
practice. Cognitive studies on science learning have responded to
these developments by an intensive focus on conceptual change and on
related issues like student epistemologies. There is also a need to take
stock of those holdings of knowledge we call science, that time has
rationed across cultures.
The efforts to apply the fruits of the historical study of science to
science education have been meagre. Over the last hundred years, some
sporadic attempts have been made to base science curricula on the
history of science. The recent progress in history of science promises to
strengthen these efforts and contribute to a richer and more
meaningful science curricula.
The workshop will provide a forum for the exploration of history of
science from the perspective of science education. Participants for the
workshop will include science and mathematics educators,
historians and philosophers of science, persons engaged in cognitive
studies of science and mathematics learning and science
communicators. A significant number of participants are expected to be
research students and younger researchers working in these areas.
The workshop will be focussing on following themes:
Critical Episodes in the history of science and mathematics
This theme of the workshop is expected to be addressed largely
through tutorial lectures by invited experts. The topics to be
covered are the great revolutions of modern science before and
during the twentieth century, the evolution of mathematics and the
multicultural origins of science and mathematics.
Historical approaches to science and mathematics curriculum
Under this theme, we plan to survey history of science based
approaches to the curriculum and explore concrete applications that
are possible and may prove valuable. Similarly, the relevance of the
history of mathematics to mathematics curriculum will also be
explored. A related question we hope to address is what
historical inputs are appropriate at different levels: school,
pre-college and college, teacher education, and in different
contexts: science popularisation and adult education.
Conceptual change in science and science learning
This theme is expected to include work done at the interface of
cognitive science and history of science, attempts to capture the
parallels between the `ontogeny and phylogeny' of scientific
knowledge and its implications for science teaching and learning.
Philosophy of science and science education:
It is necessary to have clarity about the nature of science when we
advocate its central place in general education. What image of science
should one convey through the science curriculum? How is science
related to values? These issues would be brought under the last theme
of the workshop.
Invited Speakers: (to be updated)
George G. Joseph, University of Manchester
Michael Matthews, University of New South Wales
Nancy Nersessian, Georgia Institute of Technology *
B.V. Subbarayappa, Indian Institute of World Culture
Stella Vosniadu, University of Athens *
* to be confirmed
Guidelines for participation:
If you are interested in reading a paper at the workshop on the themes
mentioned above, then you need to send us an abstract of your paper of
atleast 500 words, before 31st August 1998. You will be given a
reading time of 30 minutes followed by ten minutes discussion. Please also
enclose a copy of your Curriculum Vitae.
If you are interested in participating in the workshop (but not in
reading a paper), you need to send us by 31st August 1998 a copy of your
Curriculum Vitae, a brief resume of your current work and a brief statement
about how you expect the workshop to help you. We'll confirm your
participation by 30 September 1998. Registration fees will have to be
paid before 2nd November 1998. Dead line for submitting full papers is
31st January 1999.
Registration fee:
Student participants from India - Rs. 350
Other participants from India - Rs. 1,000
Participants from abroad - US$100
Registration fees will cover accomodation and boarding for the
duration of the workshop, stationery and related expenses.
Travel support: The Centre does not have sufficient funds to support
international travel. All participants from outside India are
requested to try and procure travel support independently. Limited
travel support is available for participants from India. Wherever
possible, participants from India are requested to try and procure
travel support independently.
About HBCSE:
Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE) is a national centre of
the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, a leading institute of
research in science and mathematics. The main foci of work at HBCSE are
- development of school curriculum in science and mathematics, building
resources for in-service teacher education, research on aspects of
learning science and mathematics and science popularisation.
One of the key areas of work in science popularisation at the Centre is
the history of science. HBCSE is also India's nodal centre for training
participants for the International Olympiads in mathematics and
physics. HBCSE is located at Trombay, a suburb of Mumbai, about 30km
away from the main campus of the Tata Institute.
For more details about HBCSE visit our HOME PAGE: URL:
http://www.tifr.res.in/~hbcse
Local Organizing Committee:
Nagarjuna G., HBCSE, Mumbai
Porus Lakdawala, HBCSE, Mumbai
K. Subramaniam, HBCSE, Mumbai
Prajit Basu, IIT, Mumbai
Assistance: Meena Kharatmal, HBCSE, Mumbai
Advisory Committee:
Arvind Kumar, HBCSE, Mumbai
Michael Matthews, University of New South Wales
Virendra Singh, TIFR, Mumbai
B. V. Subbarayappa, Indian Institute of World Culture, Bangalore
Address:
WHOS Secretariat; Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education.
V.N. Purav Marg; Mankhurd, Mumbai 400088, INDIA.
Phones: 5567711, 5554712, 5555242
Fax: 91-022-5566803
email: [log in to unmask]
URL: http://www.tifr.res.in/~hbcse
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