Children's Informal Ideas in Science - 9780415005395

Taylor & Francis

This book offers much needed theory to back up a wealth of international research. It combines 12 critical approaches to tackle one central issue - whether children's ideas about science can be explained in a single theoretical framework. > \nThe ideas that children have about science concepts have for the past decade been the subject of a wealth of international research. But while the area has been strong in terms of data, it has suffered from a lack of theory.\nChildren's Informal Ideas in Science addresses the question of whether children's ideas about science can be explained in a single theoretical framework. Twelve different approaches combine to tackle this central issue, each taking a deliberately critical standpoint. The contributors address such themes as values in research, the social construction of knowledge and the work of Piaget in a rich contribution to the debate without claiming finally to resolve it. The authors conclude with a discussion of how a theory can ben