Synonyms
Cultural contexts; Knowledge; Science
Chalmers (1980) poses a fundamental question in the title of his book, What Is This Thing Called Science? Philosophers of science and science educators for decades have attempted to create one clear, all-encompassing definition of science. However, these two groups have rarely developed definitions on which they both agree. The complexity involved in establishing one agreed definition of science is in part due to the difference in the purpose of the definition. Philosophers look for a definition of science that will provide an accurate depiction of the process of science. This definition serves as a guideline to those in the pursuit of scientific inquiry, the scientist, and the production of new scientific knowledge. In other words, philosophers develop a functional definition of science.
On the other hand, science educators attempt to obtain a definition of science that will provide direction to those in the pursuit of learning already...
References
Aikenhead G, Michell H (2011) Bridging cultures: indigenous and scientific ways of knowing nature. Person Canada, Toronto
British Science Council (2009) What is science? http://www.sciencecouncil.org/definition. Accessed 9 Aug 2012
Chalmers A (1980) What is this thing called science? Open University Press, Milton-Keynes
International Council for Science (2002) ‘Science and traditional knowledge’, report from the ICSU Study Group on Science and Traditional Knowledge. http://www.icsu.org/publications/reports-and-reviews/science-traditional-knowledge/Science-traditional-knowledge.pdfon. Accessed 9 Aug 2013
Lederman NG (1992) Student’s and teachers’ conceptions of the nature of science: a review of the research. J Res Sci Teach 29(4):331–359
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this entry
Cite this entry
Sutherland, D. (2014). Indigenous Knowledge Systems and the Nature of Science. In: Gunstone, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Science Education. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6165-0_407-2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6165-0_407-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-6165-0
eBook Packages: Springer Reference EducationReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Education