The students understanding on the imaginary role in Science production

Abstract

The use of imagination and production of models are distinctive traits of scientific activity. Despite of that, basic school Science Education characterises Science as a mere collection of facts obtained from neutral and rigorous observations of things and phenomena combined with objective scientific methods of investigation. This empiric-inductive view of Science lets little margin to understanding the tentative character of scientific knowledge and the crucial creative and imaginary human role plays in its production. In this work, we report part of the results of a research aimed at promoting the development of more sophisticated images of Science and of scientific knowledge among Middle School students during the last two grades, i.e., grades 7 and 8. Along that time those students were taught by a young and enthusiastic Science teacher committed to the idea of creating opportunities for promoting reflections about some aspects of the nature of scientific activity. Results indicate that the students came to acknowledge the importance and legitimacy of using imagination in scientific knowledge production. They seemed to have been gradually convinced through that two-year period about the idea that in order to produce good explanations one must go beyond that immediate tangible and observable reality. Students appeared convinced that explanation or theory evaluation do not depend on if it contains more or less elements of imagination. It is a matter of judging the quality of the agreement between the explanation and the available evidences.