Connecting the History of Science to the Holocaust Through Expeditionary Learning

Abstract

This chapter describes a study-abroad course with a focus on expeditionary learning. Ten students traveled to Germany and Poland during a 12 day excursion during summer 2019. During this time, students engaged in expeditionary learning activities centered on field research skills and service learning. Students participated in interactive sessions before, during, and after the trip abroad in order to discuss and reflect on what they experienced, while connecting to how science was involved in the historical events they were witnessing. The students’ views of science and the development of scientific knowledge, within the context of the Holocaust in this case, and how they might have changed over the course of this study-abroad experience was of particular interest. The chapter describes trip details and activities students conducted as part of the course. Analysis of course materials and assignments reveal the experience of students during this intensive trip. The findings presented here add expeditionary learning to the existing literature as another theoretical framework to consider when investigating science learning outside the traditional classroom.

Appendix

VIEWS ON SCIENCE-TECHNOLOGY SOCIETY © ( Abbreviated )

©1989 Glen S. Aikenhead, Alan G. Ryan, Reg W. Fleming Department of Curriculum Studies

College of Education

NAME: _______________ DATE: ___________.

INSTRUCTIONS TO STUDENTS:

Each question of the VOSTS inventory begins with a statement about science technology-society topic. Most of these statements express an extreme view on the topic. You may happen to agree strongly with this view; you may happen to disagree vigorously; or your own position may be in between the two.

Next, there is a list of positions (or viewpoints) on the issue. These usually go from one extreme to the other. You are asked to choose one of these positions, BUT ONLY ONE that comes closest to your personal view or belief.

To summarize:

Read the statement carefully.

Think to yourself whether you agree or disagree with the statement, or can’t make up your mind. Then read the list of different positions on the topic.

Pick the one that comes closest to your own position.

Every page ends with the same three positions. Here is how you can use them if you wish:

• X. “I don’t understand.” This choice is included in case there is a key word or phrase that you just don’t understand.

• Y. “I don’t know enough about this subject to make a choice.

• Z. “None of these choices fit my basic viewpoint.” This choice can be used when none of the other positions comes close to your own belief, or when you want to combine two or more choices into one position.

There are no “right” answers; this is not a test. We simply want to understand what your position is on a number of issues about science and about how it relates to technology and society.

Example:

10,111 Defining science is difficult because science is complex and does many things.

But MAINLY science is:

Your position, basically: (Please read from A to K, and then choose one.)

• A. a study of fields such as biology, chemistry and physics.

• B. a body of knowledge, such as principles, laws and theories, which explain the world around us (matter, energy and life).

• C. exploring the unknown and discovering new things about our world and universe and how they work.

• D. carrying out experiments to solve problems of interest about the world around us.

• E. inventing or designing things (for example, artificial hearts, computers, space vehicles).

• F. finding and using knowledge to make this world a better place to live in (for example, curing diseases, solving pollution and improving agriculture).

• G. an organization of people (called scientists) who have ideas and techniques for discovering new knowledge.

• H. No one can define science.

• I. I don’t understand.

• J. I don’t know enough about this subject to make a choice.

• K. None of these choices fits my basic viewpoint.

The following are the prompts used in the revised survey. The full survey described in this chapter, and position statement options for each prompt, can be seen when scanning the QR code:

10,411 Science and technology are closely related to each other:

20,121 Community or government agencies should tell scientists what to investigate; otherwise scientists will investigate what is of interest only to them.

20,141 A country’s politics affect that country’s scientists. This happens because scientists are very much a part of a country’s society (that is, scientists are not isolated from their society).

20,321 Few scientists and technologists would choose to work on military research and development.

20,411 Some cultures have a particular viewpoint on nature and man. Scientists and scientific research are affected by the religious or ethical views of the culture where the work is done.

20,611 There are groups of people who feel strongly in favor of or strongly against some research field. Science and technology projects are influenced by these special interest groups (such as environmentalists, religious organizations, and animal rights people).

40,111 Most scientists are concerned with the potential effects (both helpful and harmful) that might result from their discoveries.

40,121 Scientists should be held responsible for the harm that might result from their discoveries.

40,216 Scientists should be the ones to decide what techniques will be used with unborn babies (for example, amniocentesis for analyzing chromosomes of the fetus, altering embryo development, test-tube babies, etc.) because scientists are the people who know the facts best.

40,221 Science and technology can help people make some moral decisions (that is, one group of people deciding how to act towards another group of people).

60,211 The best scientists are always very open-minded, logical, unbiased and objective in their work. These personal characteristics are needed for doing the best science.

60,221 Certain personal characteristics can be important in science (for example, being open-minded, logical, unbiased, objective). Scientists display these characteristics, not only in their research work, but in their home life as well.

70,111 Loyalties affect how scientists do their work. When scientists work together as a team, their loyalty to the ideals of science (open-mindedness, sharing results with others, etc.) is replaced by a loyalty to the team (for example, putting the team’s interests ahead of the interests of science, or conforming to the team’s views).

70,212 When scientists disagree on an issue (for example, whether or not low-level radiation is harmful), they disagree mostly because they do not have all the facts. Such scientific opinion has NOTHING to do with moral values (right or wrong conduct) or with personal motives (personal recognition, pleasing employers, or pleasing funding agencies).

70,711 Scientists trained in different countries have different ways of looking at a scientific problem. This means that a country’s education system or culture can influence the conclusions which scientists reach.