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Undergraduate Learning in Science Project Working Paper 5Student BThis project involved extensive computer modelling of a system which had alreadybeen investigated experimentally. The student used two different models of thesystem, eventually deciding to use only one of these models. The main activity of theproject was getting the software to work and then using the model to reproduceexperimentally observed phenomena by assigning appropriate values to the variablesin the computer model.A EPISTEMOLOGICAL DIMENSION: THE NATURE OF Int. Int.EXPLANATION AND THEORY1 3Aa Knowledge claims as descriptionAb Knowledge claims as provable:Ab(i) -on empirical grounds •Ab(i)a Mention of critical procedures for ensuring reliability/validity • •Ab(i)b Mention of ‘critical experiments’ • •Ab(ii) -on social grounds • •Ab(iii) Recognition of difficulty of absolute proof •Ac Knowledge claims go beyond the data • •Ac(i) Social processes involved in evaluating theoriesAc(ii) Empirical processes involved in evaluating theories •Ac(iii) Both social and empirical processes involved •Ac(iv) No obvious basis for evaluating competing knowledge claimsAc(v) Recognition of the logical difficulty of absolute proof, as opposed to • •logical possibility of falsificationBEPISTEMOLOGICAL DIMENSION: THE NATURE OF LINESOF SCIENTIFIC ENQUIRYBa Location in individual interests of scientists •Bb Internal location in epistemology of disciplineBc External locationBc(i) Utilitarian: for ‘the greater good’ •Bc(ii) Financial: in terms of financial viability •CSOCIAL DIMENSION: THE NATURE OF SCIENCE AS ACOMMUNITYCa Individualist viewCb Recognition of a community of scientistsCc Recognition of the institutions of scienceCc(i) Financial interests recognisedCc(ii) Role recognised in validation of public knowledge • •Cc(iii) Named institutions or processes recognisedThis student made sophisticated statements about the epistemology and sociologyfrom the beginning of the project. The quality of discussion in the first and thirdinterviews did not appear to be appreciably different. The nature of lines of scientificenquiry was not discussed during the first interview.A television programme about Linus Pauling’s work linking vitamin C intake andcancer was referred to in both interviews. The programme focused upon the lengthyprocess of Pauling’s ideas being given serious consideration within the scientificcommunity. This programme appears to have been a strong influence in the86
Undergraduate Learning in Science Project Working Paper 5development of Student B’s epistemological and sociological reasoning aboutscience.87
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