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This study examines the contribution of the knowledge produced in educational administration doctoral theses to the functions of science, concept and model development, theory formation, scale development/adaptation and application. Content analysis, one of the qualitative methods, was used in conducting the research, which analyzed 122 doctoral theses dated between 2017 and 2020. These compositions were produced at 27 universities that ranked in the top 500 globally in CWUR (Center for World University Ranking) 2020. The results showed that the knowledge produced in the theses was mostly descriptive. However, there were a few experimental theses that reached the control level and contributed to the application with a concept, model, theory creation and scale development/adaptation. The findings offer implications that can guide future research in the field of educational administration.

This study explores Bhutanese in-service science teachers' conceptions of the nature of science (NOS) by using the Understanding Nature of Science (UNOS) questionnaire. The 15, two-tiered items focus on the five aspects of NOS: (1) scientific knowledge; (2) scientific theories and laws; (3) scientific method; (4) scientists' work; and (5) scientific enterprise. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and ANOVA tests. The findings revealed that a majority of the inservice science teachers possessed a naïve or uninformed conception of NOS on some aspects of scientific theories and laws, scientific methods, scientists work, and scientific enterprise. A one-way analysis of variance indicated that there was statistically no significant difference on the level of conception of NOS for the in-service science teachers' based on their teaching subject (F[2, 75] = 0.44, p = 0.064) at p = 0.05. The findings of this study may inform the relevant stakeholders about the current state of the in-service science teachers understanding of NOS and suggest further research in better understanding how Bhutanese teachers model NOS in their classroom teaching.

Cognitive-active learning research-type environment is the fundamental component of the education system for the knowledge society. The purpose of the research is the development of conceptual bases and a constructional model of a cognitively active learning environment that stimulates the creation of new knowledge and its socio-economic application. Research methods include epistemic-didactic analysis of empirical material collected as a result of the study of research environments at schools and universities; conceptualization and theoretical modeling of the cognitively active surrounding, which provides an infrastructure of the research-type cognitive process. The empirical material summarized in this work was collected in the research-cognitive space of the "Step into the Future" program, which is one of the most powerful systems of research education in present-day Russia. The article presents key points of the author's concept of generative learning environments and a model of learning and scientific innovation environment implemented at Russian schools and universities.

Scholars claim that there are different sources of knowledge. These sources have come to be thought of as foundations for knowledge. Cognitivists are not united on the foundation of knowledge but they agree that knowledge is possible as against the skeptics. Intuitionism is a cognitive theory which states that knowledge is attainable through the mental faculty of intuition. Our concern in this paper centres on what might be called ethical intuitionism. Although there are variants of this theory, intuitionists believe that there are objective moral facts which are self-evident or known through intuition. In this form, it has been classified as ethical non-naturalism because it does not depend on empirical verification of its principles or truths. We shall argue that there are serious objections to ethical intuitionism. Moreover, we shall show that ethical intuitionism does not take cognizance of important findings in psychology and biology regarding human dispositions which are capable of being expressed in "naturalistic terms".

The present study was undertaken to compare the scientific temper of high and low achieving adolescent girl students. Random sampling technique was used to draw the sample from various high schools of District Srinagar. The sample for the present study consisted of 120 school going adolescent girls (60 high and 60 low achievers). Data was collected by using Nadeem and Rashid's scientific temper scale. Statistical techniques of Percentage, Mean, S. D. and t-test were used to analyse the data. The findings of the study revealed that two groups differ significantly on curiosity, objectivity and rationality dimension of scientific temper scale. The results of the study further revealed that there exists no significant difference between high and low achieving adolescent girl on open mindedness and aversion to superstition dimension of scientific temper.

In "Science Education: A Societal Imperative," Paul H. Taylor references a society shaped by scientific concepts and technological forces, the need for citizens to make informed decisions about how science and technology are used in society, and how important it is for students to be scientifically literate in order to make informed decisions about how our society is shaped by science and technology. It is now more critical than ever that equitable science education reach all students so they can make these informed decisions since our society is even more affected by the use of science and technology than it was in 1978.

The author explores the history of nature of science beliefs among pre-service and in-service teachers primarily in the United States and Thailand and compares this history to findings in a current study being conducted in Thailand. Two research questions were used to guide this current study: What are pre-service and in-service science teachers' conceptions of the NOS, particularly with regard to scientific knowledge, the scientific method, scientists' work, and scientific enterprise? What are similarities and differences between pre-service and in-service science teachers' conceptions of the NOS. The findings of this study may inform stakeholders about the current state of pre-service and in-service science teachers' understanding of the NOS and, subsequently, inform the design and implementation of programmes and curricula that promote understanding of the NOS at both the pre-service and in-service levels. (Contains 5 tables and 1 figure.)

Understanding the nature of science has long been a focus of science education reform efforts, including the Next Generation of Science Standards. Students' views about the process of how scientific knowledge is acquired has been shown to affect their ability to learn scientific concepts. Integrating the nature of science into science lesson plans allows students to connect how scientists learned the information they are currently learning. Lesson plans that incorporate the nature of science should provide students with the opportunity to explore their own ideas and develop their own conclusions with support from their teacher. Here we provide a lesson plan that facilitates the instruction of the nature of science and clearly identifies the specific NGSS expectations addressed with the goal of improving student learning. In particular, we lay out a guide to implement on-going ecological research in activities to improve NOS understanding based on a constructivist approach to learning.

Teacher student is an important role improving their own perception what science should be anticipated in classroom. Also, science learning in the current studies try to have relied understanding in the nature of science. This research aimed to study teacher students' perception in the nature of science. One hundred and one of junior teacher students were studied by interviewing and questionnaire. Data were collected, categorized and analyzed in terms of students perceived about nature of science. Results can be presented in three manifests. First, teacher students perceived their own nature of science in term of knowledge construction. It can be raised into five criteria: science as a subject that studied natural phenomena, science as a body of knowledge, science as inquiry process, science as a thinking process and science as a description of moral and ethics. Second, teacher students perceived their nature of science in term of process of knowledge construction. They expressed their opinions that no observation and experiment, no science. Finally, teacher students perceived their nature of science in terms of scientific enterprise. They expressed their opinions by means of relationship between Science, Technology and Society (STS). Science is a part of society, its role is important for social development and self-actualization. Some of them referred to science in negative point of view. [This study was financially supported by the Mahasarakham University research fund. "The Social Sciences" is published by Medwell Journals.]

The 'liberal' feminist perspective on science problematises the presence of fewer women than men in science and believes that increasing their number would qualify as social change. On the other hand, 'radical' critics of modern science argue that science has been deeply involved in the creation, strengthening and subversion of gender inequalities. The liberal strand is much more amenable to direct interventions and aligns well with current educational reforms. But the fundamental questions about science and science education that are raised by the radical strand not just evade agreement, but they also do not lead easily to direct educational implications. In this article, I show that an engagement with these perspectives offers us a chance to reflect on our society, on the place of science in it, and on the role of science education in mediating between science and society. This reflection further encourages us to rethink and reorganise science and science education so that they are more mindful of the gender and other kinds of power dynamics in our society.

This paper discusses the basic tenets of Islam and the Islamic view of nature that were influential in the development of science in the so-called "Golden Age of Islam". These findings have been the catalyst for present day Muslim scholars, who have emphasized the importance of Islamic science, as the means of understanding Western science. There is also a strong body of opinion within researchers of Islamic science that the abandonment of Islamic values and the rapid adoption of Western science and technologies have led to conflict in social, educational and scientific fields in Islamic countries. The article examines how these two views can be reconciled in order to build bridges between modern science and Islamic science. (Contains 7 footnotes.)

This paper examines the intersection between creativity, problem solving, cognitive psychology and neuroscience in a discussion surrounding the genesis of new ideas and innovative science. Three creative activities are considered. These are (a) the interaction between visual-spatial and analytical or verbal reasoning, (b) attending to feeling in listening to the "self", and (c) the interaction between conscious and non-conscious reasoning. Evidence for the importance of each of these activities to the creative process is drawn from (a) historical and introspective accounts of novel problem solving by noted scientists and mathematicians; (b) cognitive psychology and neuroscience; and (c) a recent empirical study of novel mathematics problem solving. An explanation of these activities is given in terms of cognitive neuroscience. A conceptual framework connecting each of these activities is presented and the implications for learning and teaching considered. (Contains 3 figures.)

This paper presents a discussion regarding the role that Muslim scholars played in the development of scientific thinking in the Middle Ages. It argues that the Muslims were not just the preservers of the ancient and Greek knowledge, but that they contributed original works to the different fields of science. They were inspired by the Islamic view of nature that is, mankind had a duty to "study nature in order to discover God and to use nature for the benefit of mankind". This knowledge was transferred to Western Europe and subsequently played an important role in revitalising a climate of learning and exploration in Europe, leading to the Renaissance in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

The nature of science (NOS) is a phrase used to represent the rules of the game of science. Arguably, NOS is the most important content issue in science instruction because it helps students understand the way in which knowledge is generated and validated within the scientific enterprise. This article offers a proposal for the elements of NOS that should inform classroom science teaching and learning, including the distinction between law and theory, the shared methods of science, the role of creativity and subjectivity, the idea that scientific knowledge is tentative, long-lasting and self-correcting and the important reality that science has limits.

This study reports on an innovative version of adaptive primary literature (APL) that we call Science Behind the Scenes used during a summer professional development (PD) program. Classroom teachers read and discussed papers from the primary literature, and created translations of these papers relevant to their own classroom needs. We randomly selected 31 teacher-created Science behind the Scenes products for evaluation with a rubric that was aligned with the K-12 Science Education Frameworks (2012). In addition, we interviewed groups of teachers at follow-up sessions and individual teachers who used the APL in their classrooms. We used frameworks for grounded theory to sort the interview text and descriptive statistical measures for quantitative data. Our analysis reveals two key findings: (i) the teachers created respectable adaptations of primary scientific literature into APL; and (ii) the teachers used the APL products in their classrooms to support the discourse of science and disciplinary literacy, and to create a bridge to the scientific enterprise. Our findings have implications for instructional design, curricular materials, professional development, and science education.

As part of a longitudinal study into identity development in upper-level physics students, we used a phenomenographic research method to examine students' perceptions of what it means to be a physicist. Analysis revealed six different categories of perception of what it means to be a physicist. We found the following themes: research and its association with being a physicist, differences in mindset, and exclusivity of accomplishments. The paper highlights how these perceptions relate to two communities of practice that the students are members of, and also highlights the importance of undergraduate research for students to transition from the physics undergraduate community of practice to the community of practicing physicists. [This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Upper Division Physics Courses.]

Three themes are central to preparing doctoral students for the professoriate: identity formation, scientific integration, and intellectual communities. In this article, we argue that these three themes are not separate pillars but interlocking circles. Our main thesis is that (1) social work must develop into a distinct integrative scientific discipline; (2) this recognition is core to the identity formation of doctoral scholars and, reflectively, their identity formation is central to the future development of social work as a scientific discipline; and (3) the sustainability of social work as a scientific discipline is dependent upon the development of intellectual communities. Developing social work as an integrative discipline will foster and congeal the identity of our scholars while allowing them to flourish within intellectual communities. Implications include nurturing a scientific sense of identity through a dialogical approach to doctoral education, creating and supporting intellectual communities, and making identity formation explicit in mentoring practices.

Larry Palinkas advances the developing science of social work by providing an explanation of how social science research methods, both qualitative and quantitative, can improve our capacity to draw casual inferences. Understanding causal relations and making causal inferences--with the promise of being able to predict and control outcomes--is fundamental to the scientific enterprise. This response builds on Palinkas paper with two points: (1) The search for causality is inevitable, i.e., hard-wired into research decision-making process. (2) Thinking slowly about research methods, i.e., avoiding the influence of heuristics that may influence decision-making in predictable ways, will reduce bias and improve causal inferences.

It is a surprising fact that social work is not conceived as a scientific discipline in many countries and especially in the United States. It is surprising because the extent of academic social work programs and the scientific output of people working at schools of social work are significant. And it is surprising anyway if social work is conceived as a profession that by definition is linked to scientific knowledge. This article presents a characterization of the debate on social work science that has been led in the German-speaking countries. As a consequence of this debate and following the philosophy of science as developed by Mario Bunge, it introduces some basic propositions on how to conceive social work as a science, namely as a transdisciplinary action science ("Handlungswissenschaft") and outlines the target of building a consolidated knowledge base of social work as well as the challenges related to this goal.

The emerging discourse on science in social work (SW) has generated much-needed analysis of the profession's status as a scientific enterprise. Brekke raised critical issues that must be addressed for SW to become a science. This response examines the contextual factors that led to the call for SW science. It also relies on a comparative analysis of attempts by other professions and disciplines to become scientific to discuss critical challenges and opportunities for SW to evolve to science status in the highly contentious scientific environment of the 21st century.

There are two purposes to this article. The first is to update the science of social work framework. The second is to use recent discussions on the nature of realist science and on social work science to propose a definition of social work as an integrative scientific discipline that complements its definition as a profession.

My intention is to cast light on the characteristics of epistemic or fundamental research (in contrast to application-oriented research). I contrast a Baconian notion of objectivity, expressing a correspondence of the views of scientists to the facts, with a pluralist notion, involving a critical debate between conflicting approaches. These conflicts include substantive hypotheses or theories but extend to values as well. I claim that a plurality of epistemic values serves to accomplish a non-Baconian form of objectivity that is apt to preserve most of the intuitions tied to the objectivity of science. For instance, pluralism is the only way to cope with the challenge of preference bias. Furthermore, the plurality of epistemic values cannot be substantially reduced by exploring the empirical success of scientific theories distinguished in light of particular such values. However, in addition to pluralism at the level of theories and value-commitments alike, scientific research is also characterized by a joint striving for consensus which I trace back to a shared epistemic attitude. This attitude manifests itself, e.g., in the willingness of scientists to subject their claims to empirical scrutiny and to respect rational argument. This shared epistemic attitude is embodied in rules adopted by the scientific community concerning general principles of dealing with knowledge claims. My contention is that pluralism and consensus formation can be brought into harmony by placing them at different levels of consideration: at the level of scientific reasoning and at the level of social conventions regarding how to deal with claims put forward within the scientific community.

Truth is for sale today, some critics claim. The increased commodification of science corrupts it, scientific fraud is rampant and the age-old trust in science is shattered. This cynical view, although gaining in prominence, does not explain very well the surprising motivation and integrity that is still central to the scientific life. Although scientific knowledge becomes more and more treated as a commodity or as a product that is for sale, a central part of academic scientific practice is still organized according to different principles. In this paper, I critically analyze alternative models for understanding the organization of knowledge, such as the idea of the scientific commons and the gift economy of science. After weighing the diverse positive and negative aspects of free market economies of science and gift economies of science, a commons structured as a gift economy seems best suited to preserve and take advantage of the specific character of scientific knowledge. Furthermore, commons and gift economies promote the rich social texture that is important for supporting central norms of science. Some of these basic norms might break down if the gift character of science is lost. To conclude, I consider the possibility and desirability of hybrid economies of academic science, which combine aspects of gift economies and free market economies. The aim of this paper is to gain a better understanding of these deeper structural challenges faced by science policy. Such theoretical reflections should eventually assist us in formulating new policy guidelines.

The present transformation of the university system is conceptualized in terms of such terminologies as "Mode-2 knowledge production" and the "entrepreneurial university." What is remarkable about these analyses is how closely they link the generally accepted requirement of more socially relevant knowledge to the commercialization of university research. This paper critically examines the Mode-1/Mode-2 distinction through a combination of philosophical and empirical analysis. It argues that, from the perspective of actual scientific practice, this Mode-1/Mode-2 distinction and the related transition thesis do not stand closer scrutiny. Theoretical "Mode-1" science shares "Mode-2" features in being also problem-oriented, interventive and transdisciplinary. On the other hand, the empirical case on language technology demonstrates that even in "Mode-2"-like research, undertaken in the "context of application," scientists make a distinction between more difficult scientific problems and those that are considered more applied or commercial. Moreover, the case shows that the need to make such distinctions may even become more acute due to the compromises imposed by the commercialization of research.