Literature Review Domain F Grokett 1

Literature Review Domain F

Lauren Grokett

National University

TED 690: Capstone

Professors Weintraub, Marandos, Grandy, Traynor-Nilsen, and Dickenson

June 17, 2018

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Literature Review Domain F

Domain F describes the professional, legal, and ethical obligations of a teacher and outlines

how educators should continually reflect on our professional choices (California Department of

Education, 2018) of how and what we teach. Part of professional growth is staying abreast of current

research and best practices, which for science teachers includes a healthy amount of discussion of what

the new standards: the Next Generation Science Standards, mean for our classrooms. This article,

“Knowledge, beliefs and pedagogy: how the nature of science should inform the aims of science

education (and not just when teaching evolution)” (Taber 2017, pg 83) focuses on the challenge of how

to encourage more than superficial understanding of scientific topics in light of cultural issues such as

anti-evolution, anti-vaccination, and any of a myriad of religiously held beliefs that are not in keeping

with the scientific theories that underpin modern society.

Taber begins with an eminently reasonable statement: that students need to recognize that

science is based on theories, which are heavily tested hypotheses that have undergone strict peer-review

and withstood the test of innumerable arguments and challenges, and yet still have the flexibility to

change with new evidence and testing (Taber 2017, pg 86). The real challenge is that students are

accustomed to being the recipients of information and unfamiliar with critical questioning and

investigation, which often takes second place to the notion that the culturally held beliefs of the student

conflicts with the scientific standard. I am about to rail against or lament that students may hold

personal beliefs that are at odds with the laws of nature—there is no real competition between a teacher

that meets with them for a few hours each week and the ongoing instruction they receive at home from

family and other well-respected community members (Taber 2017, 85). Instead, the understanding of

the scientific method and the development of critical thinking and questioning skills should be at the

forefront of my mind as a science educator.

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To that end, Taber encourages science educators at all levels to steer away from instruction in

terms of “belief” or “right” and “wrong” but instead focus on the intellectual practice of skepticism and

evidence-based reasoning—that is, encouraging the student to engage with the subject and to ask

questions only to dive in to the topic to answer them through experimentation and testing of their own.

Indeed, when I teach evolutionary biology I an frank with my students that our understanding of the

natural world is constantly changing (evolving, if not too much on the nose) and they absolutely should

question findings and evidence, but not just to question but to have the courage to seek out the answers

to those questions. Every so often I have students who are not comfortable with the idea of evolution

or vaccines, and all I can do is point them toward research and evidence to evaluate on their own, and

to learn how to assess resources for validity.

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Citations

California Department of Education. (2018). Improving Teacher & Principal Quality. Retrieved June

12, 2018, from https://www.cde.ca.gov/nclb/sr/tq/index.asp

Taber, K.S. (2017) Knowledge, beliefs and pedagogy: how the nature of science should inform the aims

of science education (and not just when teaching evolution). Cultural Studies of Science Education.

12: 81. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-016-9750-8