| Scientific reasoning and nature of science found in the history of atomic model development - College science for scientific literacy |
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Yoon Ki Kim, Bokyoung Lee, Yoon Kyoung Ha |
| 원자 모형 발전 단계에 내재된 과학적 추론과 과학의 본성 |
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김윤기, 이보경, 하윤경 |
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| Abstract |
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Natural Science courses are not simply general educational courses for students majoring in Natural Science and Engineering, but they also play an equally important role as studies for liberal arts education. In order to cultivate the scientific literacy, it is essential for college-level science classes not only to teach the core concepts and theories, but also to train and develop students’ scientific reasoning skills. In this study, scientific reasoning operations in the development of historically important atomic models in general chemistry textbooks were examined: Deduction, induction and abduction were found to be the most frequently used reasoning methods in these modeling processes. Moreover, our analysis found that abduction was the principle reasoning method used in generating atomic models, including Thomson’s plum-pudding model, Rutherford’s planetary model and Bohr’s atomic orbital model. Abduction is a reasoning method to engender new theoretical explanations for an abnormal observation and select the best among generated explanations. Having students to actively engage and apply abduction or other relevant scientific reasoning skills during class instruction may improve their scientific inference skills. By exploring the histories of the atomic models, this study is also expected to contribute to both students’ and course instructors’ understanding of the nature of science appeared during the development of the atomic models. |
| Key Words:
scientific reasoning, abduction, atomic model, science as a general education, nature of science |
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