PHILOSOPHICALLY CORRECT SCIENCE STORIES - EXAMINING THE IMPLICATIONS OF HEROIC SCIENCE STORIES FOR SCHOOL SCIENCE

Some people think that science is a set of facts that can be presented in plain and unadorned language. This fosters a belief that science h as few stories. Actually, stories are very important in school science . In an examination of science textbooks, I have identified four diffe rent types of science stories which I call (a) heroic, (b) discovery, (c) declarative, and (d) politically correct. Each of these types of s tory promotes a particular set of philosophical assumptions about scie nce. These assumptions are presented implicitly within the framework o f the story as truths of science. This article specifically examines t he philosophical assumptions that underpin heroic science stories and the implications of these stories in the discursive practices of the s chool science classroom. As teachers, we need to be critically aware o f these assumptions, since they may be at odds with our beliefs about knowledge and our preferred teaching practices. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.