History of Science in the United States: A Chronology and Research Guide. Clark A. Elliott

Isis ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 87 (4) ◽  
pp. 769-770
Author(s):  
Paul Lucier
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
The United States ◽  
History Of ◽  
Research Guide

scholarly journals PHRENOLOGY, CORRESPONDENCE, AND THE GLOBAL POLITICS OF REFORM, 1815–1848

2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 409-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAMES POSKETT
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
The United States ◽  
Global Politics ◽  
Global History ◽  
Political Language ◽  
History Of ◽  
Global Project

ABSTRACTLike many nineteenth-century sciences, phrenology had global aspirations. Skulls were collected in Egypt and Ceylon, societies exchanged journals between India and the United States, and phrenological bestsellers were sold in Shanghai and Tokyo. Despite this wealth of interaction, existing accounts treat phrenology within neat national and urban settings. In contrast, this article examines phrenology as a global political project. During an age in which character dominated public discourse, phrenology emerged as a powerful political language. In this article, I examine the role that correspondence played in establishing material connections between phrenologists and their political concerns, ranging from the abolition of slavery to the reform of prison discipline. Two overarching arguments run throughout my case-studies. First, phrenologists used correspondence to establish reform as a global project. Second, phrenology allowed reformers to present their arguments in terms of a new understanding of human character. More broadly, this article connects political thought with the global history of science.

The history of science in the science classroom: The past is the key to the future in science education

2015 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 310-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renee M. Clary ◽  
James H. Wandersee
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Science Education ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Nature Of Science ◽  
Research Council ◽  
National Research Council ◽  
The United States ◽  
Student Understanding ◽  
Science Classrooms ◽  
History Of

In many science classes, students encounter ‘final form’ science (Duschl 1990, 1994) in which scientific knowledge is presented as a rhetoric of conclusions (Schwab 1962). Incorporation of the history of science in modern science classrooms combats this false image of linear science progression. History of science can facilitate student understanding of the nature of science, pique student interest, and expose the cultural and societal constraints in which a science developed, revealing science's ‘human side’ (Matthews 1994). Carefully selected and researched episodes from the history of science illustrate that scientists sometimes chose incorrect hypotheses, misinterpreted data, and argued about data analysis. Our research documented that historical vignettes can hook students' attention, and past controversies can be used to develop students' analysis and argumentation skills before turning class attention to modern controversial issues. Historical graphics also have educational potential, as they reveal the progression of a science and offer alternative vehicles for data interpretation. In the United States, the National Science Education Standards (United States National Research Council 1996) acknowledged the importance of the History and Nature of Science by designating it as one of eight science content strands. However, the new United States Next Generation Science Standards (Achieve 2013) no longer include this strand, although the importance of the nature of science is still emphasized in the science framework (United States National Research Council 2012). Therefore, it is crucial that science education researchers continue to research and implement the history of science via interdisciplinary approaches to ensure its inclusion in United States science classrooms for better student understanding of the nature of science.

Physics Textbooks and Textbook Physics in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josep Simon
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Science Education ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
The United States ◽  
History Of Physics ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
German States ◽  
History Of ◽  
Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries

This article focuses on physics textbooks and textbook physics in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with particular emphasis on developments in France, Germany, Britain, and the United States. It first examines the role that physics textbooks played in the early stages of the professionalization of the history of science before presenting a general overview of the genesis of textbook physics in the nineteenth century. It also looks at major textbooks produced in France and the German states while making some reference to British and American textbooks. Finally, it considers recent scholarship dealing with textbooks in the history of physics. The article shows how our views on textbooks have been shaped by events that have established particular hierarchies between scientific research and science education, and between universities and schools. It argues that the study of textbooks would benefit from greater reflexivity.

The Structure of Theological Revolutions

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark S. Massa
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
Moral Theology ◽  
Catholic Theology ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
History Of

Using Thomas Kuhn’s understanding of “paradigms” within the history of science, this book examines how different models of natural law were presented by Catholic theologians in order to offer more compelling and coherent understandings of what the natural law is, and how Catholic theology uses it. The author explores whether the application of Kuhn’s ideas to the heated Catholic debates over natural law might offer a more dispassionate way of understanding the development of a theological micro-tradition. The book argues that the micro-traditions of theology (most specifically the micro-tradition of natural law) do not build seamlessly on each other. The year 1968 is offered as the starting point for the narrative that follows because that was when, in the United States, the unquestioned dominance of the specific type of natural law discourse (neo-scholasticism) that had defined Catholic moral theology for generations came to a dramatic end with unnerving specificity.

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