Knowledge of the environment is essential for the survival of organisms; but those organisms have to have the capacity to stabilize such knowledge. The aim of this article is to analyze the various strategies for stab...Knowledge of the environment is essential for the survival of organisms; but those organisms have to have the capacity to stabilize such knowledge. The aim of this article is to analyze the various strategies for stabilizing human knowledge, with a special focus on its material anchors and their interactions with other stabilization means. In particular, I consider how such stabilization is reflected in scientific activity and practice, and what its repercussions are for the models of science that have dominated the philosophical landscape of the 20th century. My starting hypothesis will be that the role of material anchors in stabilizing conceptual blends is analogous to that of technology in grounding scientific knowledge. The framework I adopt with regard to conceptualization is that of Fauconnier and Turner （2002） on conceptual blends. Just as technology intervenes in scientific practice in conjunction with conceptual elements, so do material anchors, which conjoin other non-material strategies of knowledge stabilization. Endowing knowledge with a material basis may be understood firstly as an element （sometimes a key element） for representing knowledge and offering an explanation, and secondly as a way of providing a scientific hypothesis with empirical grounding. It is this second sense that connects with scientific experimentation and the use of instruments and technology.展开更多
This paper aims at assessing the evolutionist and creationist conceptions of Brazilian teachers. The work is developed within the framework of the European project BIOHEAD-CITIZEN （biology, health and environmental e...This paper aims at assessing the evolutionist and creationist conceptions of Brazilian teachers. The work is developed within the framework of the European project BIOHEAD-CITIZEN （biology, health and environmental education for better citizenship）, which takes into account that scientific knowledge and teachers＇ attitudes and values can influence the teaching practices. The large questionnaire BIOHEAD-CITIZEN, which was constructed to be applied in 19 countries in Europe, Africa and Middle East countries, was applied, in this study, to six groups of Brazilian teachers： primary school teachers, biology teachers and Portuguese language teachers and corresponding teachers-to-be. For this paper the answers to questions about evolution were used as dependent variables. Descriptive and multivariate analyses were carried out. Biology teachers and biology teachers-to-be gave more importance to the natural selection and the evolution process than the other groups of teachers. Comparing to the BIOHEAD-CITIZEN countries, the total Brazilian sample showed a higher percentage of creationist conceptions, particularly the Brazilian biology teachers and teachers-to-be. As discussed herein, this may not be an obstacle for teaching evolution as they accept both creationist and evolutionist concomitantly.展开更多
文摘Knowledge of the environment is essential for the survival of organisms; but those organisms have to have the capacity to stabilize such knowledge. The aim of this article is to analyze the various strategies for stabilizing human knowledge, with a special focus on its material anchors and their interactions with other stabilization means. In particular, I consider how such stabilization is reflected in scientific activity and practice, and what its repercussions are for the models of science that have dominated the philosophical landscape of the 20th century. My starting hypothesis will be that the role of material anchors in stabilizing conceptual blends is analogous to that of technology in grounding scientific knowledge. The framework I adopt with regard to conceptualization is that of Fauconnier and Turner （2002） on conceptual blends. Just as technology intervenes in scientific practice in conjunction with conceptual elements, so do material anchors, which conjoin other non-material strategies of knowledge stabilization. Endowing knowledge with a material basis may be understood firstly as an element （sometimes a key element） for representing knowledge and offering an explanation, and secondly as a way of providing a scientific hypothesis with empirical grounding. It is this second sense that connects with scientific experimentation and the use of instruments and technology.
文摘This paper aims at assessing the evolutionist and creationist conceptions of Brazilian teachers. The work is developed within the framework of the European project BIOHEAD-CITIZEN （biology, health and environmental education for better citizenship）, which takes into account that scientific knowledge and teachers＇ attitudes and values can influence the teaching practices. The large questionnaire BIOHEAD-CITIZEN, which was constructed to be applied in 19 countries in Europe, Africa and Middle East countries, was applied, in this study, to six groups of Brazilian teachers： primary school teachers, biology teachers and Portuguese language teachers and corresponding teachers-to-be. For this paper the answers to questions about evolution were used as dependent variables. Descriptive and multivariate analyses were carried out. Biology teachers and biology teachers-to-be gave more importance to the natural selection and the evolution process than the other groups of teachers. Comparing to the BIOHEAD-CITIZEN countries, the total Brazilian sample showed a higher percentage of creationist conceptions, particularly the Brazilian biology teachers and teachers-to-be. As discussed herein, this may not be an obstacle for teaching evolution as they accept both creationist and evolutionist concomitantly.
