Constructing Scientific Understanding through Contextual Teaching

This volume includes a selection of contributions to the 6th International Conference for the History of Science in Science Education held at the Carl-von-Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg in July 2006. The conference was devoted to discussing the function of historical contexts in science education. Some of the papers in this collection discuss this issue from a theoretical point of view, others describe practical teaching experiences; they cover examples from the ?elds of astronomy, biology, mathematics, and physics. Bringing them together should make manifest the potential of using historical contexts in science education, in particular in teaching not only science but also the nature of science.

Peter Heering's research focuses on the history of scientific experimental practice and the implementation of historical experiments in science teaching. Daniel Osewold works on the analysis of students' conceptions and the implementation of historical units in secondary physics teaching on the basis of the investigated students' conceptions. Both are working in the research group on Physics Education/History and Philosophy of Science at the physics institute of the Carl-von-Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg.