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Goethe’s conception of “experiment as mediator” and implications for practical work in school science

Goethe’s conception of “experiment as mediator” and implications for practical work in school science
Goethe’s conception of “experiment as mediator” and implications for practical work in school science
There has been growing criticism over the aims, methods, and contents of practical work in school science, particularly concerning their tendency to oversimplify the scientific practice with focus on the hypothesis-testing function of experiments. In this article, we offer a reading of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s scientific writings—particularly his works on color as an exquisite articulation of his ideas about experimentation—through the lens of practical school science. While avoiding the hasty conclusions made from isolated experiments and observations, Goethe sought in his experiments the interconnection among diverse natural phenomena and rejected the dualistic epistemology about the relation of humans and nature. Based on a close examination of his color theory and its underlying epistemology, we suggest three potential contributions that Goethe’s conception of scientific experimentation can make to practical work in school science.
0926-7220
39-61
Park, Wonyong
eae3796e-fc99-43ba-98be-53ea5bdb14fc
Song, Jinwoong
f29b2117-5711-4a0a-b607-b8a1921f44fc
Park, Wonyong
eae3796e-fc99-43ba-98be-53ea5bdb14fc
Song, Jinwoong
f29b2117-5711-4a0a-b607-b8a1921f44fc

Park, Wonyong and Song, Jinwoong (2018) Goethe’s conception of “experiment as mediator” and implications for practical work in school science. Science & Education, 27 (1-2), 39-61. (doi:10.1007/s11191-018-9965-z).

Record type: Article

Abstract

There has been growing criticism over the aims, methods, and contents of practical work in school science, particularly concerning their tendency to oversimplify the scientific practice with focus on the hypothesis-testing function of experiments. In this article, we offer a reading of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s scientific writings—particularly his works on color as an exquisite articulation of his ideas about experimentation—through the lens of practical school science. While avoiding the hasty conclusions made from isolated experiments and observations, Goethe sought in his experiments the interconnection among diverse natural phenomena and rejected the dualistic epistemology about the relation of humans and nature. Based on a close examination of his color theory and its underlying epistemology, we suggest three potential contributions that Goethe’s conception of scientific experimentation can make to practical work in school science.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 27 March 2018
e-pub ahead of print date: 27 March 2018

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 453605
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/453605
ISSN: 0926-7220
PURE UUID: 11ca1642-0341-49e8-bdfc-4a1a5d24f3ab
ORCID for Wonyong Park: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-8911-5968

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Date deposited: 20 Jan 2022 17:38
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 04:09

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Contributors

Author: Wonyong Park ORCID iD
Author: Jinwoong Song

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