European Identity - Individual, Group and Society - HumanitarianNet

322 EUROPEAN IDENTITY. INDIVIDUAL, GROUP AND SOCIETYScience curricula and no time is wasted in the development of theclassical programmes of philosophy of Science. We have recently proposeda “model” on the nature of Science, valid for Science education, whichcombines: the latest work by T.S.Kuhn (his afterthought), entitled The wayfrom Structure 17 in a recent publication and which contains theremaining original elements of this author´s thinking; a few elementson Sociology of Science, and some features from History of Science,especially that referring to Science revolutions and studies of historicalcases 18 .This model should be introduced in teacher training programmesand, in turn, act as an umbrella for Science teaching.Incorporating scientific contributions from different culturesFurther implications of a multicultural science lead us to re-examinethe contents of Science lessons. Generally speaking, Science contentsseem decontextualised. Most students view orthodox scientific contentas having little or no relevance to their cultures of origin. Science isuniversal and, from time immemorial, its contributions ultimatelybelong to people from very different countries. This fact shouldbecome clear in Science lessons.We propose two ways to transform scientific contents:—One is teaching history of Science from a multicultural perspective.This implies incorporating both biographies and papers fromscientists (males or female) from different cultures. The NobelPrize Archive available on the Internet provides us with importanthistorical resources.—The other one implies introducing current issues in Sciencelessons in their real contexts, using scientific magazines or theInternet to get information. For example, pupils could searchhow the Ebola virus affected the Kikwit (Congo) populationsome years ago. They could then be asked questions on thenature of viruses, their varieties, infection modes, etc.17Kunhn, T. S. (2002). El camino desde la estructura. Paidós, Barcelona.18Marco Stiefel, B. (2002). “La naturaleza de la ciencia, una asignatura pendienteen los enfoques CTS. Retos y perspectivas”. Paper presented in the II Seminario Ibéricosobre CTS en la Enseñanza de las Ciencias Experimentales. University of Valladolid, 1-3July 2002.