Science, science education and cognitive psychology

Abstract

“Everyone has two eyes but no two people view the world in a similar manner” During the 1950s and 1960s, educator Joseph Schwab (as cited in BSCS 2009)1observed that science was being driven by a new vision of scientific inquiry. In Schwab’s view, science was no longer a process for revealing stable truths about the world, but instead it reflected a flexible process of inquiry. He characterized inquiry as either “stable” or “fluid.” Stable inquiry involved using current understandings to “fill a … blank space in a growing body of knowledge.” Fluid inquiry involved the creation of new concepts that revolutionize science. In the current paper the authors would like to highlight the meaning of science through objectivist and cognitivist lens. Authors would like to present the nature of science and the processes involved in learning of science. Authors would further like to focus on how the processes, background, experience and exposure of an individual help in interpreting the same data.