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Heuristic Diagrams as a Tool to Teach History of Science

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If we just show the findings and products of science,

no matter how useful and inspiring they may be,

without communicating its critical method,

how the average person can distinguish

between science and pseudoscience?

Both are presented as baseless assertion

C. Sagan (1997, p. 39)

Abstract

The graphic organizer called here heuristic diagram as an improvement of Gowin’s Vee heuristic is proposed as a tool to teach history of science. Heuristic diagrams have the purpose of helping students (or teachers, or researchers) to understand their own research considering that asks and problem-solving are central to scientific activity. The left side originally related in Gowin’s Vee with philosophies, theories, models, laws or regularities now agrees with Toulmin’s concepts (language, models as representation techniques and application procedures). Mexican science teachers without experience in science education research used the heuristic diagram to learn about the history of chemistry considering also in the left side two different historical times: past and present. Through a semantic differential scale teachers’ attitude to the heuristic diagram was evaluated and its usefulness was demonstrated.

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Acknowledgments

I am grateful to Yosajandi Pérez and Alejandra García for the methodological and language discussions and also to all teachers-in training and the reviewers. All of them help me to improve the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Facultad de Química, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México, México

    José A. Chamizo

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  1. José A. Chamizo
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Correspondence to José A. Chamizo.

Appendix

Appendix

1.1 Instructions for Completing a Heuristic Diagram

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Chamizo, J.A. Heuristic Diagrams as a Tool to Teach History of Science. Sci & Educ 21, 745–762 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-011-9387-7

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