![“The enterprise [of science] . . . has a geography of its
own. In fact, it is not one enterprise, but many, a whole
landscape—or market—of independent epistemic
monopolies producing vastly different products.”
Attention to diversity, to “different architectures of
empirical approaches , specific constructions of the
referent, particular ontologies of the instruments, and
different social machines . . . brings out the diversity of
epistemic cultures. This disunifies the sciences.”
Karin Knorr Cetina, Epistemic Cultures, 1998](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/teaching-geoscience-subversive-120629102912-phpapp02/85/Teaching-Geoscience-as-a-Subversive-Activity-41-320.jpg)
![“The enterprise [of science] . . . has a geography of its
own. In fact, it is not one enterprise, but many, a whole
landscape—or market—of independent epistemic
monopolies producing vastly different products.”
Attention to diversity, to “different architectures of
empirical approaches [map], specific constructions of the
referent [synchrony], particular ontologies of the
instruments [gravitometer], and different social
machines [field camp]” (p. 3) . . . brings out the diversity
of epistemic cultures. This disunifies the sciences.”
Knorr Cetina, Epistemic Cultures, 1998](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/teaching-geoscience-subversive-120629102912-phpapp02/85/Teaching-Geoscience-as-a-Subversive-Activity-42-320.jpg)
Teaching Geoscience as a Subversive Activity
- 1. “Each rock is a moment of time, a sharp comment on our fragile accident of life.” David Leveson, A Sense of the Earth, 1971
- 2. f “What we sense as stone is an elusive flicker in a blur of change.”
- 3. “Even the stones disappear . . . Only the chants remain.” Chinook Proverb
- 4. The theme: The importance of diversity among the sciences—distinctive styles of thought and rhetoric, appropriate methods, responsiveness to particular challenges, use of metaphor to construct concepts, contexts of value, and appeals to aesthetics.
- 5. The struggle to grasp “geologic time” underscores how these distinctive elements combine to answer “What to teach?” once the quest for unity has been abandoned.
- 6. The geosciences well illustrate the “disunity” of the sciences and thus counter the codification of science as a unified enterprise.
- 7. Teaching the Geosciences as a Subversive Activity: It’s About Time Kip Ault Teaching the Methods of Geoscience Montana State University June 28, 2012
- 9. The Quest for Unity And its Big Blue Blank Box
- 11. Scientific Inquiry: Understand science process concepts and skills that characterize the nature and practice of science. Oregon Department of Education
- 12. We need to question the notion that all sciences ascribe to the same habits of mind and the implication that this principle ought to guide planning what to prioritize in teaching science and scoring achievement.
- 13. The issue: • Teaching generic processes of science contrasted with • An approach that emphasizes methods of inquiry adapted to context.
- 14. The premise: Concepts are vital tools of inquiry. Concept and process exist symbiotically, not independent of each other. “The” scientific method is myth, with the myth persisting in generic “process, nature, and culture” approaches to teaching science.
- 15. The “forbidden” question: Does a strong distinction between content and inquiry (or process) skills contribute to student alienation from science?
- 16. Thinking in “plurals” is a place to start: cultures and natures of the sciences. . . However . . .
- 17. Whether starting with culture or ending with the nature of science, the Basic Science Process Skills —observe, infer, classify, measure, predict, communicate— always seem to dominate.
- 18. For 50 years the Footprints Puzzle has typified teaching a distinction between observations and inferences
- 19. The first portion of the fossil is exposed.
- 20. (Bell, 2008)
- 21. The entire fossil Is exposed.
- 24. “A Dinosaur Walks Into the Museum” Roland T. Bird Natural History v.47(2) 1941 PALUXY RIVER TEXAS
- 26. Roland T. Bird’s scenario of a carnosaur attacking a sauropod.
- 27. Roland T. Bird’s scenario of a carnosaur attacking a sauropod. But were the tracks laid down at the same time?
- 29. The Footprints Puzzle at the Oregon Zoo along the Cascades Trail
- 31. Megatherium tracks, where Darwin walked on the Patagonian coast.
- 32. Fossil Rhea footprint. Walking rheas provide a modern analogue for bipedal carnosaur locomotion. Tracks of fighting hippos help to infer behaviors of sauropods.
- 34. On the trail of a Patagonian Flamingo
- 36. When studying the behavior of extinct beasts from fossilized footprints, keep in mind that hippos are to sauropods as rheas are to carnosaurs.
- 37. We need to pursue a deep concern for:
- 38. We need to pursue a deep concern for: How the conceptualization of the phenomenon of interest interacts with the methods of its investigation.
- 39. We need to pursue a deep concern for: How the conceptualization of the phenomenon of interest interacts with the methods of its investigation. How this interaction generates different techniques in order to achieve distinctive explanatory ideals.
- 40. We need to pursue a deep concern for: How the conceptualization of the phenomenon of interest interacts with the methods of its investigation. How this interaction generates different techniques in order to achieve distinctive explanatory ideals. How the methods of investigation yield results calling for the invention of new concepts.
- 41. “The enterprise [of science] . . . has a geography of its own. In fact, it is not one enterprise, but many, a whole landscape—or market—of independent epistemic monopolies producing vastly different products.” Attention to diversity, to “different architectures of empirical approaches , specific constructions of the referent, particular ontologies of the instruments, and different social machines . . . brings out the diversity of epistemic cultures. This disunifies the sciences.” Karin Knorr Cetina, Epistemic Cultures, 1998
- 42. “The enterprise [of science] . . . has a geography of its own. In fact, it is not one enterprise, but many, a whole landscape—or market—of independent epistemic monopolies producing vastly different products.” Attention to diversity, to “different architectures of empirical approaches [map], specific constructions of the referent [synchrony], particular ontologies of the instruments [gravitometer], and different social machines [field camp]” (p. 3) . . . brings out the diversity of epistemic cultures. This disunifies the sciences.” Knorr Cetina, Epistemic Cultures, 1998
- 43. Whether laboratory, field, or experiment the “extracted aspects” of the natural object are inscripted; these representation —often graphical—are subject to scrutiny and interpretation. Representations encode what is deemed “real.” These realities constitute the fundamental categories of explanatory thinking at the same time as they “purify the malleable extract.” (Knorr Cetina)
- 44. For example, fundamental categories of geologic phenomena—faults, deltas, volcanoes, mantle plumes, plates— include objects that differ from each other due to unique histories; in contrast, members of chemical categories—elements, isotopes, compounds—have no individual identities that bear upon making reliable predictions.
- 45. As a consequence of historical reality, many of the “extracted aspects” of the natural world inscripted as geologic phenomena embody a story: the dimension of time becomes implicit in the geologic term. For example, “erosion” has a beginning, middle, and end; “igneous rock,” a story of origins to tell. The rhetoric, not just the methods of investigation, of the geosciences, are distinctive. The culture has a distinct way of speaking.
- 46. It is my judgment that geoscientists are well positioned to argue the diversity and distinctiveness of various scientific enterprises, the plurality, rather than unity, of the sciences.
- 47. Acknowledge disunity! Embrace diversity! Subvert the quest for unity! Contradict standardized inquiry! Exploit plurality! . . . and interest will follow
- 48. Avoid being hornswoggled by those who prioritize the “habits of mind, methods of science, processes of inquiry, nature of science, practices of science, big ideas, or cross-cutting themes” common to all sciences.
- 49. Strive, instead, towards a different kind of unity—a heuristic that ferrets out the distinctiveness of a domain, that exposes the traits that disunify, that nests an inquiry within multiple contexts including value, aesthetics, rhetoric, and theory.
- 50. Effectively teaching the geosciences undermines the quest to depict unity among the sciences. Distinctive styles of reasoning, responsive to the demands characteristic of particular problems and derived from patterns of meaning, are what to teach. The meaning of “time” is central to meeting these demands.
- 51. Meaning is use..
- 52. How do geoscientists use the concept of time?
- 53. Geoscientists use time as Place, Referee, Number Length, Clock, Art, & Value
- 54. Time as Place
- 56. Place on Earth
- 57. Place in Time
- 58. Place in the Mind
- 59. Time as Referee
- 60. Sequence and synchrony in time referee arguments.
- 61. For example, Correlation Charts illustrate: Before and after At the same time For the same time
- 67. Time as Length
- 68. acing a geologic timeline to scale and locating significant events: Backwards or forwards in time, what is the psychological difference between the two experiences? hat difference does “compression” of intervals (1 meter = 1 million years changing to 1 meter = 10 million years)
- 71. Comparing durations requires clocks.
- 72. “In order to time something, you have to compare it to something else that always goes at the same speed. But to know it goes at the same speed, you have to time it. It’s kind of confusing.” --John in 4th Grade, 1979
- 73. Time as Clock
- 74. Measuring Time with the “Popcorn” Clock: What to count? Equal intervals of time derived from the randomness of decay (analogous to kernels popping).
- 75. How do geoscientists represent time?
- 76. Visual forms in geoscience picture time artfully.
- 77. Visual Correlation Charts depictions of temporal Cross-sectional Diagrams relationships Stratigraphic Columns include: Block Diagrams Cartoons and Animations Contour Maps Geologic Maps
- 84. Selected elements of reality, in vivid, coherent form that adhere to Elliot Eisner’s criteria of artistry.
- 85. What is the value of understanding geologic time?
- 87. “The variety of rock is infinite but circumscribed by process and substance. It may suggest eternity, but it is constantly being created and constantly being destroyed.
- 88. It is, at each instant, the summary of its past and the threshold of its future.” David Leveson, A Sense of the Earth, 1971
- 89. The past reaches into the present . . .
- 90. . . . fostering deep respect for the present moment.
- 91. My Thanks to all for Thoughts on: Translate Nature into Culture Discipline Specific Methods Geologists Didn’t Write Equations Disconnected Knowledge Structures The Localized Present Visualizations . . . Highly Social Lithic Literacy Place-based Discipline Relevance to Everyone Personal Encounter Decide, Revisit, Decide Continuously Inquires Isolated Silos Process-oriented Critical Thinking Skills Critical Reasoning Scientific Method Starting Point Observations from Interpretations Earth Science Default Course Science-fair-model Does Not Work Two Independent Methods
Editor's Notes
- #7: By codification, I refer to state accountability policies and documents.
- #12: "Science as process" was the slogan guiding reform in the 60s and 70s; teaching "science as continuous inquiry" in the 80s and "nature of science" in the 90s. The 21st century jargon is teaching the "practices of science" which the NRC is careful to describe as using content knowledge and process skills "simultaneously" (NRC's word). Oregon has graciously combined all of this jargon into one tidy statement, a circular slogan designed neither to offend nor omit anyone. There is no surprise that blue, blank space appears beneath it--an apt symbol of the fuzzy thinking and failure to wrestle with inquiry contextualized by subject and subjects offering distinctive approaches for investigating the natural world. Consider Bell ’s Teaching the Nature of Science Through Process Skills and