Scerri, Eric (2003) Constructivism, Relativism, and Chemical Education. [Preprint]

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Abstract

Whereas most scientists are highly critical of constructivism and relativism in the context of scientific knowledge acquisition, the dominant school of chemical education researchers appears to support a variety of such positions. By reference to the views of Herron, Spencer, and Bodner, I claim that these authors are philosophically confused, and that they are presenting a damaging and anti-scientific message to other unsuspecting educators. Part of the problem, as I argue, is a failure to distinguish between pedagogical constructivism regarding students' understanding of science, and constructivism about the way that scientific knowledge is acquired by expert scientists.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Scerri, Eric scerri@chem.ucla.edu 0000-0001-9775-5829
Keywords:	constructivism; relativism; chemical education; Science Wars; realism
Subjects:	General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism General Issues > Science Education
Depositing User:	Eric Scerri
Date Deposited:	04 Mar 2025 13:14
Last Modified:	04 Mar 2025 13:14
Item ID:	24859
Subjects:	General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism General Issues > Science Education
Date:	2003
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/24859

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