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Asia-Pacific
Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 7, Issue 2, Article 1 (Dec., 2006) Shu-Chiu LIU Historical models and science instruction: A cross-cultural analysis based on students’ views
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The present work is inspired by a previous cross-cultural study (Liu, 2005) on young students’ descriptions and explanations of the Earth, the sky, and familiar heavenly events, such as phases of the Moon. In the study, both Taiwanese and German students presented their knowledge based on a mental model of the universe. A number of previous studies on different topics have also provided evidence on the structural feature of students’ knowledge (Greca & Moreira, 2000; Vosniadou & Brewer, 1992; Wandersee et al., 1994). Another worth-noting finding of Liu’s study is that there seems to be similarities between students’ and historical ideas which lie in their organized pattern and perceptual basis, and these similarities can be located in the both cultural settings. In other words, students’ perception-based arguments and models have their analogies in conceptual history of the both (and perhaps more) cultures. It therefore draws a meaningful point to extend the cross-cultural analysis from students’ conceptions to the historical ones from an instructional perspective.
The paper seeks to analyze the historical ideas and models regarding the sky and Earth in the Western and Chinese world and to explicitly locate their common place with student’ ideas and models. Furthermore, their meanings to science instruction are elaborated. The paper will thus arrive at some instructional suggestions of using historical material based on the similar underlying principles between students’ and early scientists’ view.
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