ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY, ISLAMABAD

Student Name:
ATIA BIBI

Roll No
CE631477

Course Name:
General Methods of Teaching

Couse code:
695

Assignment No:
1st

M.ED (1 YEAR) SCIENCE EDU

Course: Foundations of Science Education (695)

Semester: Spring, 2021

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 Assignment No.1

Q.l What role do the Learning Theories play in the foundations of education? Discuss in the

context of science education.

Educational psychologists have developed theories of learning based on three main paradigms – behaviourism,

cognitivism and constructivism. Behaviourists believe that the behaviour of learners is a response to their past,

and behavioural modification is the main purpose of education. According to cognitivists, the behaviour of

learners is the result of his/her cognition, and the main aim of education is to change the cognitive schemas.

Constructivists, on the other hand, believe that learners construct their own knowledge, and the objective of

education is to provide opportunities to gain knowledge. The understanding of how children acquire

knowledge has influenced teaching-learning processes in the classroom significantly. The role of teachers has

changed from the person imparting information to a person facilitating the construction of knowledge.

Teaching science has also been influenced by the changing psychological ideas about teaching and learning.

The information age that dawned in the 20th century necessitated the acquisition of information through

informal modes like listening to the radio, watching television or surfing the world wide web. Developments

in digital technology have, thus, changed the way students make meaning of given information. All these

changes have forced the educationists to design appropriate methods of teaching and learning.

Introduction:

Science, as a discipline of formal study, got its place in school curriculum towards the last quarter of the 19th

century. The founding fathers of science education attempted to teach it along with other subjects in schools

in the same style. As science developed, and more science content was included in the curriculum, the science

educators took cognizance of the developments in psychology. Twentieth-century educational psychologists

came out with theories of learning that explained the way children acquired skills and knowledge. These

theories have influenced the teaching of science significantly. Learning theories are based on three main

psychological paradigms – behaviourism, cognitivism and constructivism. It would be useful to understand

the basics of these three approaches and explore the influence they had on science education.

Behaviourism:

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Behaviourism paradigm focuses on observable behaviours. Behaviour theorists define learning as the

acquisition of new behaviour based on environmental conditions. They identify conditioning as a universal

learning process. There are two types of conditioning – classical conditioning and operant conditioning.

Classical conditioning refers to a learning procedure in which a biologically potent stimulus is paired with a

previously neutral stimulus. Operant conditioning, also called instrumental conditioning, is a method of

learning that occurs through rewards and punishments for behaviour. As per the guidelines of behaviourist

thinkers, the classroom interaction focussed mainly on behaviour modification. Classroom instruction where

the teacher transmits information to the learner was considered to be an effective mode of teaching. It was

necessary to ensure that the child acquired all the knowledge the teacher wanted to provide. Techniques to

achieve such proficiency (mastery learning) were also suggested. According to the behaviourist thinkers,

science teaching could be equated to making children familiar with scientific information made available to

us by scientists, without attention to the method of science used by them. Some methods that were born out

of this thinking are outlined below.

Transmission of Information:

In this mode of interaction, the science teacher communicated scientific information to his/her students orally.

Thus, the rules and laws such as Newton’s laws of motion, Mendeleev’s law of periodicity, Mendel’s law of

heredity, etc., were read out or told in the classrooms. Students were expected to listen to the teacher carefully

and remember them. The lecture mode classroom proceedings would sometimes be supported by practical

demonstrations. For example, the teacher would demonstrate in the classroom that the like poles of the magnet

repel while unlike poles attract each other. This mode of teaching science is still practised in many of the

Indian schools. Practice was considered a major tool to ensure knowledge fixation. Sometimes it took the

shape of rote learning. Scientific laws were, thus, learned by heart and reproduced in the examinations. As the

interaction time in the school was limited, students were often tasked with practice as homework. For example,

if a child was to master how to balance a chemical equation, (s)he was expected to practice cannot be limited

to conceptual learning. It demands the development of learning skills. For many students, the lack of learning

prerequisites like motivation to learn, reading comprehension, poor mathematical skills, etc., are the main

learning hurdles. it a number of times at home. Repetition of the statements without committing any mistake

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was often construed as learning. Higher-order skills like understanding, application, interpretation, etc., were

hardly given any importance in the teaching of science.

Remedial Instruction:

Remedial instruction applies to students who fail to fulfil the expectations of a teacher. As the name suggests,

the focus here is on diagnosis and remediation. An attempt is made to diagnose the gap in understanding when

a child has not reached the level of mastery learning expected. This thinking has resulted in the development

of diagnostic testing. These tests have been prepared by dividing a major concept into small sequential

subconcepts and framing questions to see if the child understands each of them. For example, the main concept

of evolution would be subdivided into small concepts and questions framed on each of them. Analysis of the

answers given by a child would enable the teacher to understand the nature of help that (s)he needs. Remedial

education cannot be limited to conceptual learning. It demands the development of learning skills. For many

students, the lack of learning prerequisites like motivation to learn, reading comprehension, poor mathematical

skills, etc., are the main learning hurdles. They need to be developed so that students can benefit from

classroom proceedings. A project entitled Talent Search and Nurture among the Underprivileged was

undertaken at Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (TIFR) to understand learning hurdles faced by

students from socially deprived homes and to design appropriate remedial inputs to overcome them. The work

carried out for about a decade (1980–90) showed that remedial instruction offered taking into account the

learning difficulties faced by the students can not only compensate for poor initial preparation but also for

social deprivation.

CBL Packages:

With the development of technology, new gadgets were brought into use for practice and assessment in

schools. Computer-based learning (CBL) packages were developed to facilitate repetition and practice of the

content discussed in the classroom. Software programmes that enabled self-assessment were developed. A

student could take the computer test and find out where (s)he stands in criterion-referenced testing. Some

programmes even gave feedback to the students to know the correct answer to a question. In a short span of

time CBL packages were prepared to teach a variety of concepts in physics, chemistry as well as in biology.

Study material on CDs was also made available on a large scale to the teaching community. With the

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availability of internet facility, the use of such packages increased substantially. Although the CBL packages

proliferated, their utility as a teaching aid in science remained doubtful. In fact, some thinkers claimed that

these packages debilitated science learning instead of facilitating.

Cognitivism:

cognitive theories emphasize making knowledge meaningful and helping learners organize new information

in his/her cognitive schema. To make instruction effective, it must be based on the student’s existing mental

structures. It should help learners to connect new information with existing knowledge in a meaningful way.

Analogies and metaphors are examples of this type of cognitive strategy. Other cognitive strategies may

include the use of concept mapping and advance organisers. The spread of cognitivism among science

educators had a profound effect on the teaching of science in schools. New methods were developed and tried

on a small scale. Science education journals received a large number of articles based on these methods in the

1970s and 80s.

Activity-based Teaching:

Science education, influenced by behaviouristic thinking, was limited to theoretical discussions providing

declarative knowledge. Soon, however, science educators realized the importance of procedural knowledge.

As a result, laboratories were built in schools where students were given an opportunity to perform simple

activities. Here, the focus was on developing laboratory skills among the students so that they can design and

perform experiments on their own. A project initiated by Nuffield Foundation in England can be cited as an

example of activity-based teaching of science. In this project, the academicians from different disciplines

worked on developing a laboratory programme for effective teaching of science. A laboratory manual was

made available to the teachers in print form. The impact of this project has been long-lasting on the teaching

of science. Even today, some of the experiments developed by experts working on the Nuffield Science

Teaching Project are used by practising teachers. A group of scientists in India initiated a Hoshangabad

Science Teaching Project (HSTP) based on the idea of learning through activities. Textbooks were prepared

and made available to a large number of schools in central India. Training courses were conducted to acquaint

the teachers with the new philosophy. Assessment of this project showed a positive impact on the

understanding of the students .

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Inquiry Method:

Advocated Advocated by Suchmann, the inquiry method focuses on creating puzzling situations for students

to start enquiring. By encouraging students to inquire into day-to-day problems, they are entrusted with greater

opportunity and responsibility of self-learning. by Suchmann, the inquiry method focuses on creating puzzling

situations for students to start enquiring. By encouraging students to inquire into day-to-day problems, they

are entrusted with greater opportunity and responsibility of self-learning. This teaching method suggests that

the teachers should not provide ready-made answers but should encourage students to seek answers

themselves. Teachers should interact closely and spend time with students analysing their inquiry strategies,

and help them find answers to their questions. This mode of teaching is in line with the development of science

as immense knowledge can be gained by asking questions about the occurrence of natural phenomena.

Children, by nature, are curious. They have a variety of questions on their minds about many things around

them. Unfortunately, our education system hardly provides an opportunity to satisfy this curiosity. Given an

opportunity, students question many aspects relevant to daily life. Providing direct answers to their questions

would satisfy their curiosity temporarily. Instead, showing them the method to seek answers equip them to

gain new knowledge.

Expository Teaching:

Ausubel, the advocator of this method, held the view that learning is meaningful only if a learner can relate it

to the ideas that (s)he already understands. To facilitate such a linkage, he suggested the organization of lessons

according to the process of progressive differentiation, moving from general to the specific. He coined the

phrase ‘advance organisers’ which essentially mean either to activate students’ reception system or to equip

them with the necessary receptors they do not have. Relating the concepts and principles learned early in the

course to the ideas presented later in the course is very important in this method of teaching. For example,

recalling the fact that liquid water takes away heat during evaporation is essential in explaining why water is

used in extinguishing fire. Lesson planning by the teacher plays an important role in this method of teaching.

Teachers are expected to plan their inputs and activities in such a way that students acquire knowledge in a

step-by-step manner, relating new information to what they already know. This procedure leads to a better

conceptual understanding of science.

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Constructivism:

Constructivism believes that knowledge is constructed through one’s own personal experiences and

interactions with the outside world. Thus, the learners take up an active role in the construction of knowledge,

and teachers facilitate this endeavour. paradigm believes that knowledge is constructed through one’s own

personal experiences and interactions with the outside world. Thus, the learners take up an active role in the

construction of knowledge, and teachers facilitate this endeavour. Two types of constructivism emerged in the

late 1970s. Lev Vygotsky introduced social constructivism, in which social interaction with others was deemed

helpful to the learner in giving meaning to information. Vygotsky noted that learners can develop a certain

level of meaning on their own, but it can grow even greater after interacting with classmates and instructors.

Thus, Vygotsyian approach takes the socio-cultural context into account and advocate close teacher-pupil

interaction as a crucial component of learning. In 1985, Jean Piaget introduced cognitive constructivism, in

which knowledge is considered to be constructed by either assimilation or accommodation. In assimilation,

incoming information is associated with the existing schema. When incoming information does not match the

existing schema, then it must be changed to accommodate this conflict. Constructivism is best utilized when

learners take control of the learning situation, such as in problem-based learning. As learners engage

themselves in an activity like this, they develop an understanding of the importance of the problem,

comprehend the relevance of the topic, and construct knowledge through their experiences. It is more

important to focus on the whole rather than the individual parts in constructivist learning. Constructivism is

sometimes misconstrued as a theory that compels students to reinvent the wheel. It, however, implores students

to attempt to learn.

Project-based Learning:

Project-based learning allows students to learn by doing and applying ideas. Students engage in real-world

activities that are similar to the activities that adult professionals engage in. A projectbased classroom allows

students to investigate questions, propose hypotheses and explanations, discuss their ideas, challenge the ideas

of others, and try out new ideas. It is drastically different from direct teaching methods. In this method of

teaching, the entire science syllabus is divided into projects/activities to be carried out by the students. The

teacher provides adequate resources to the students to complete their work. A project is usually assigned to a

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small group of students so that they can collaborate with each other in completing the task and acquire new

knowledge. Adoption of this method, however, adds to the workload of the teacher. A lot of preparatory work

is required on the part of the teacher to motivate the students to undertake the task. The teacher needs to

identify suitable projects that can sustain the interest of students and facilitate their understanding [7]. Hence,

this mode of teaching is not yet very popular among teaching communities. Instead of covering the whole

syllabus through the project method, teachers generally tend to suggest some projects on which the students

can work in small groups.

Discovery Method:

Bruner, a well-known American psychologist, advocated the discovery approach for teaching science. As a

first step, he suggested teaching the basic structure of the discipline along with the relationship of the most

important concepts and principles. Once this scaffolding is ready, discovery learning techniques can be used

to motivate students, help them retain information and teach them how to learn. In this style of lesson planning,

the discussion should begin with a problem. As the students attempt to deal with the problem, they not only

learn the basics concepts involved but also acquire skills to gain knowledge. Discovery method has Discovery

become quite popular in science education globally. A variety of projects have been undertaken to try out this

pedagogy on small as well as large scales. method has become quite popular in science education globally. A

variety of projects have been undertaken to try out this pedagogy on small as well as large scales. It was

suggested that this method leads to insightful learning as advocated by Wolfgang Kohler. In India, the

Hoshangabad Science Teaching Project (HSTP) that was initiated as activity-based teaching attempted to

implement the ‘discovery approach’. It provided opportunities to learners to conduct activities, collect data

and discuss its relevance to everyday life. HSTP was a widely appreciated project and led to large scale

expansion in the state. This philosophy advocated that the child should play the role of scientists in the school

laboratory, and should collect datum, analyse it and arrive at a conclusion using scientific methods. There are,

of course, limitations to this method. One is not sure that the students would discover the same principles as

was done by great scientists like Newton, Galileo, Faraday, Mendeleev or Darwin. Hence, there is a need for

constant supervision and guidance by the teacher.

Conclusions:

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Science education as a field of research got established in recent years. It is an interdisciplinary subject on the

borderline of science, psychology and sociology. Science educators looked at the teaching-learning process

as a branch of science. They also took cognizance of developments in other areas like sociology, economics,

technology, etc., along with science. Taking into account these developments, they have designed effective

teaching methods and have developed appropriate teaching-learning materials. They need to be passed on to

practising teachers who have the responsibility for preparing students to face the challenges of the 21st century.

As Hodson says, “this is a time for action and efforts must be made to change classroom practices by educating

the teachers both through pre-service as well as through in-service training courses”.

Q.2 Muslims were once the leaders in the domain of science, what are the chief causes of decline of

Muslim world in the advancement of science?

Historical Overview :

The Islamic Golden Age was a period of cultural, economic, and scientific flourishing in the history of Islam,

traditionally dated from the 8th century to the 14th century. This period is traditionally understood to have

begun during the reign of the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid (786 to 809) with the inauguration of

the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, the world's largest city by then, where Islamic

scholars and polymaths from various parts of the world with different cultural backgrounds were mandated to

gather and translate all of the world's classical knowledge into Arabic and Persian. Several historic inventions

and significant contributions in numerous fields were made throughout the Islamic middle ages that

revolutionized human history.

The period is traditionally said to have ended with the collapse of the Abbasid caliphate due to Mongol

invasions and the Siege of Baghdad in 1258. A few scholars date the end of the golden age around 1350 linking

with the Timurid Renaissance. while several modern historians and scholars place the end of the

Islamic Golden Age as late as the end of 15th to 16th centuries meeting with the Age of the Islamic

Gunpowders. (The medieval period of Islam is very similar if not the same, with one source defining it as

900–1300 CE.)

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The metaphor of a golden age began to be applied in 19th-century literature about Islamic history, in the

context of the western aesthetic fashion known as Orientalism. The author of a Handbook for Travelers in

Syria and Palestine in 1868 observed that the most beautiful mosques of Damascus were "like

Mohammedanism itself, now rapidly decaying" and relics of "the golden age of Islam".

Evolution of Scientific Output in the Islamic World :

For hundreds of years, while Europe was mired in the Dark Ages, the medieval Islamic empire was at the

forefront of science – in sad contrast to the state of many Muslim countries today. Jim Al-Khalili asks what

has been impeding progress, and examines some projects that could herald a brighter future.

There are more than a billion Muslims in the world today – over a fifth of the world’s total population – spread

over many more than the 57 member states of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in which

Islam is the official religion. These include some of the world’s wealthiest nations, such as Saudi Arabia and

Kuwait, as well as some of the poorest, like Somalia and Sudan. The economies of some of these countries –

such as the Gulf States, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Malaysia and Pakistan – have been growing steadily

for a number of years, and yet, in comparison with the West, the Islamic world still appears somewhat

disengaged from modern science.

The leaders of many of these countries understand very well that their economic growth, military power and

national security all rely heavily on technological advances. The rhetoric is therefore often heard that they

require a concerted effort in scientific research and development to catch up with the rest of the world’s

knowledge-based societies. Indeed, government funding for science and education has grown sharply in recent

years in many of these countries and several have been overhauling and modernizing their national scientific

infrastructures. So what do I mean when I say that most are still disengaged from science?

Current state of research:

According to data from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and

the World Bank, a group of 20 representative OIC countries spent 0.34% of their overall gross domestic

product on scientific research between 1996 and 2003 – just one-seventh of the global average of 2.36%.

Muslim countries also have fewer than 10 scientists, engineers and technicians per 1000 of the population,

compared with the world average of 40, and 140 for the developed world. Between them they contribute only

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about 1% of the world’s published scientific papers. Indeed, the Royal Society’s Atlas of Islamic-World

Science and Innovation reveals that scientists in the Arab world (comprising 17 of the OIC countries) produced

a total of 13 444 scientific publications in 2005 – some 2000 fewer than the 15 455 achieved by Harvard

University alone.

But it is the quality of basic scientific research in the Muslim world that is of more concern. One way of

measuring the international prominence of a nation’s published scientific literature is via its relative citation

index (RCI): this is the number of cited papers by a nation’s scientists as a fraction of all cited papers, divided

by its own share of total papers published, with all citations of its own literature excluded to prevent bias.

Thus, if a country produces 10% of the world’s scientific literature but receives only 5% of all citations in the

rest of the world, its index will be 0.5. In a league table compiled in 2006 by the US National Science Board

of the world’s top 45 nations ranked by their RCI in physics, only two OIC countries even register – Turkey

with 0.344 and Iran with 0.484 – and only the latter shows a marked improvement between 1995 and 2003.

These bald statistics reveal how far scientists in Muslim nations are languishing behind the rest of the world.

But there have been some outstanding Muslim scientists, not least the Pakistani theoretical physicist Abdus

Salam (1926–1996), who dreamed of a scientific renaissance in the Islamic world. One of the greatest

scientists of the second half of the 20th century, Salam shared the 1979 Nobel Prize for Physics, with Sheldon

Glashow and Steven Weinberg, for his part in developing the electroweak theory: one of the most powerful

and beautiful theories in science, it describes how two of the four fundamental forces of nature (the

electromagnetic force and the weak nuclear force) are connected.

Although Salam was a pious Muslim, he was excommunicated by Pakistan in the 1970s because of his non-

orthodox religious convictions and adherence to a relatively obscure Islamic sect called the Ahmadis (Physics

World August 2009 pp32–35). Despite this, he remained loyal to his country and worked tirelessly to promote

science in the Islamic world. But Salam’s dream was never realized and he left behind the following damning

indictment: “Of all civilizations on this planet, science is weakest in the lands of Islam. The dangers of this

weakness cannot be over-emphasized since the honourable survival of a society depends directly on its science

and technology in the condition of the present age.”

Obstructive attitudes:

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One problem is that too many Muslims see modern science as a secular, even atheist, Western construct, and

have forgotten the many wonderful contributions made by Muslim scholars during the height of a golden age

that began in the first half of the 9th century and continued for several centuries. Brilliant advances were made

in everything from mathematics, astronomy and medicine, to physics, chemistry, engineering and philosophy.

It was an age epitomized by a spirit of rational enquiry at a time when most of Europe was stuck in the Dark

Ages.

But this freethinking, curiosity-driven quest for knowledge slowly went into decline. I should make it clear

that this downturn took place several centuries later than many in the West think, for original advances in

medicine, mathematics and astronomy continued to be made well into the 15th century. The gradual decline

that nevertheless took place did so for a variety of reasons, mainly due to the political fragmentation of the

Islamic empire and weaker rulers no longer being interested in patronage of scholarship and learning. All of

this coincided with the Renaissance in Europe moving in the opposite direction, which triggered the scientific

revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries. Add to this the later effects of colonialism that led to a kind of

malaise and collective amnesia within the Muslim world about its own rich cultural heritage, and one can see

the weakness and intellectual laziness of the argument that the decline should be blamed on an anti-science

backlash from a more conservative Islam.

Nevertheless, it is sad but true that today many religions around the world see modern scientific disciplines

such as cosmology or evolution as undermining their belief systems. Compare their view with that of the great

Persian polymath al-Biruni (973–1048): “The stubborn critic would say: ‘What is the benefit of these

sciences?’ He does not know the virtue that distinguishes mankind from all the animals: it is knowledge, in

general, which is pursued solely by man, and which is pursued for the sake of knowledge itself, because its

acquisition is truly delightful, and is unlike the pleasures desirable from other pursuits. For the good cannot

be brought forth, and evil cannot be avoided, except by knowledge. What benefit then is more vivid? What

use is more abundant?” Thankfully, enough Muslims now reject the notion that science and Islam are

incompatible. In fact, given the current climate of tension and polarization between the Islamic world and the

West, it is not surprising that many Muslims feel indignant when accused of not being culturally or

intellectually equipped to raise their game when it comes to scientific achievements.

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Reform required:

Far more telling than the argument that it is religious conservatism that impedes scientific progress in the

Muslim world are the antiquated administrative and bureaucratic systems many OIC countries inherited long

ago from their colonial masters that have still not been replaced. This is compounded by a lack of political

will to reform, to tackle corruption and to overhaul failing educational systems, institutions and attitudes.

Thankfully, things are changing fast.

It is crucial that both Muslims and non-Muslims are reminded of a time when Islam and science were not at

odds, albeit in a very different world. This is important not only for science to flourish once again in the

Islamic world, but also as one of the many routes towards a future in which Muslims see the value of curiosity-

driven scientific research, just as they did 1000 years ago.

As for how this can be achieved, the obvious first step is serious financial investment. It has been shown time

and time again that bigger science budgets encourage greater scientific activity, and many Muslim

governments, from Malaysia to Nigeria, are currently investing quite astonishing sums of money in new and

exciting projects in an attempt to create world-class research institutions. For instance, the rulers of several of

the Gulf States are building new universities with labour imported from the West for both construction and

staffing.

But it is not simply a matter of throwing money at the problem. Even more important is having the political

will to reform and to ensure real freedom of thinking. For example, Nader Fergany, lead author of the United

Nations’ 2002 Arab Human Development Report, has stressed that what is needed above all else is a reform

of scientific institutions, a respect for the freedoms of opinion and expression, ensuring high-quality education

for all, and an accelerated transition to knowledge-based societies and the information age .

Forward-looking projects:

Let us look briefly at the Middle East, where one can find a number of exciting new projects that have received

considerable publicity within the region. The first is a new science park that opened in the spring of 2009 in a

sprawling metropolis called Education City on the outskirts of Doha, the capital of Qatar, which is home to a

number of branch campuses of some of the world’s leading universities, including Carnegie Mellon, Texas

A&M and Northwestern. The Qatar Science and Technology Park, also based at Education City, hopes to be

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a hub for hi-tech companies from around the world that, one imagines, will try to emulate the success of

California’s Silicon Valley.

Just as ambitious is the new $10bn King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), just

completed on the west coast of Saudi Arabia near the city of Jeddah (Physics World November 2009 pp12–

13). Incredibly, the vast campus of this international research university, complete with state-of-the-art labs

and a $1.5bn budget for research facilities over its first five years, was built from scratch in less than three

years. In a pioneering move, it is the first fully co-educational institution in Saudi Arabia, allowing women to

sit alongside men in lecture halls rather than in separate rooms. The university promises to offer researchers

the freedom to be creative and to embody the very highest international standards of research and education.

The research programme has been tailored to support the country’s post-oil future in key areas such as

exploiting solar energy and developing crops that can survive the country’s hot, dry climate. Many of the top

universities in Europe and the US have been clamouring to be associated with it for – one hopes – scholarly

rather than financial motives.

The final example is a project called SESAME (Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications

in the Middle East) (Physics World April 2008 pp16–17), which will be the region’s first major international

research centre as a co-operative venture by scientists and governments in the region. When, in 1997, Germany

decided to decommission its synchrotron research facility BESSY, it agreed to donate its components to the

SESAME project, which was quickly developed under the auspices of UNESCO. It is now being built in

Jordan, which had to fight off strong competition from other countries in the region. The research to be carried

out at SESAME will include materials science, molecular biology, nanotechnology, X-ray imaging,

archaeological analysis and clinical medical applications. Its current membership, along with the hosts,

includes Israel, the Palestinian National Authority, Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Bahrain and Cyprus, and

this group is likely to expand as several other countries join the collaboration.

Facing the future:

So, is there a brighter future ahead for science in the Islamic world? Of course scientific researchers require

adequate financial resources, but to compete on the world stage requires more than just the latest, shiniest

equipment. The whole infrastructure of the research environment needs to be addressed, from laboratory

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technicians who understand how to use and maintain the equipment to the exercise of real intellectual freedom

on the part of the scientists, and a healthy scepticism and courage to question experimental results. This culture

change will not happen overnight and requires not only political will, but also an understanding of the true

meaning of both academic freedom and the scientific method itself. Sadly, this can often be somewhat lacking,

even in the West.

A cultural renaissance leading to a knowledge-based society is urgently required if the Muslim world is to

accept and embrace not only the bricks and mortar of modern research labs along with the shiny particle

accelerators and electron microscopes that they house, but also that spirit of curiosity that drives humankind

to try to understand nature, whether it is to marvel at divine creation, or just to know how and why things are

the way they are.

A golden age of science:

The greatest period of sustained scientific advances during the 1500 years between the time of the Ancient

Greeks and the European Renaissance took place in the great centres of learning across the medieval Islamic

empire, such as Baghdad, Cairo, Cordoba and Samarkand. For instance, it is in Baghdad that we find the very

first book on algebra (called Kitab al-Jebr, from which we derive the word “algebra”). It was unlike anything

seen before, and a paradigm shift from the work of the Greek number theorist Diophantus. Written by the 9th-

century mathematician al-Khwarizmi, it sparked many great advances in mathematics, all the way to the 15th-

century Persian al-Kashi in Samerkand (who, among other achievements, calculated π to 16 decimal places),

before the Europeans regained the lead in mathematics once again. The Abbasid caliph al-Ma’mun created a

new academy in Baghdad – the House of Wisdom – and built observatories in Baghdad and Damascus. He

sponsored huge science projects that made vast improvements on the astronomical and geographical works of

Greek scholars such as Ptolemy, which the Muslim, Christian and Jewish scholars of the Baghdad academy

had translated into Arabic.

Advances in medicine and anatomy would lead to Arabic texts by scholars such as al-Razi (Razes) and Ibn

Sina (Avicenna) replacing the Greek works of Galen and Hippocrates in the libraries of medieval Europe. The

philosophical work of Ibn Sina and Ibn Rushd (Averroës) influenced later European scholars such as Roger

Bacon and St Thomas Aquinas. The Cordoban physician al-Zahrawi (Abulcasis) invented more than 200

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surgical instruments – many of which are still in use today, such as forceps and the surgical syringe. At about

this time, we also witness the birth of industrial chemistry, with remarkably sophisticated scientific methods

being employed over the haphazard practice of alchemy, and advances in fields such as optics by the likes of

Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) that would not be matched until Newton. For a period spanning over half a

millennium, the international language of science was Arabic.

Q.3 Do you agree that Bacon argued for the possibility of scientific knowledge based only upon
inductive

reasoning and careful observation of events in nature? Discuss.

Introduction:

As a special form of social consciousness, constantly interacting with all its other forms, philosophy is their

general theoretical substantiation and interpretation. Can philosophy develop by itself, without the support of

science? Can science "work" without philosophy? Some people think that the sciences can stand apart from

philosophy, that the scientist should actually avoid philosophizing, the latter often being understood as

groundless and generally vague theorizing. If the term philosophy is given such a poor interpretation, then of

course anyone would agree with the warning "Physics, beware of metaphysics!" But no such warning applies

to philosophy in the higher sense of the term. The specific sciences cannot and should not break their

connections with true philosophy. Science and philosophy have always learned from each other. Philosophy

tirelessly draws from scientific discoveries fresh strength, material for broad generalizations, while to the

sciences it imparts the world-view and methodological im pulses of its universal principles.

Foundation of modern science:

Many general guiding ideas that lie at the foundation of modern science were first enunciated by the perceptive

force of philosophical thought. One example is the idea of the atomic structure of things voiced by Democritus.

Certain conjectures about natural selection were made in ancient times by the philosopher Lucretius and later

by the French thinker Diderot. Hypothetically he anticipated what a scientific fact became two centuries later.

We may also recall the Cartesian reflex and the philosopher's proposition on the conservation of motion in the

universe. On the general philosophical plane Spinoza gave grounds for the universal principle of determinism.

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The idea of the existence of molecules as complex particles consisting of atoms was developed in the works

of the French philosopher Pierre Gassendi and also Russia's Mikhail Lomonosov. Philosophy nurtured the

hypothesis of the cellular structure of animal and vegetable organisms and formulated the idea of the

development and universal connection of phenomena and the principle of the material unity of the world.

Lenin formulated one of the fundamental ideas of contemporary natural science—the principle of the in

exhaustibility of matter—upon which scientists rely as a firm methodological foundation.

Modern Theories Of Science:

The latest theories of the unity of matter, motion, space and time, the unity of the discontinuous and

continuous, the principles of the conservation of matter and motion, the ideas of the infinity and

inexhaustibility of matter were stated in a general form in philosophy. Bedsides influencing the development

of the specialised fields of knowledge, philosophy itself has been substantially enriched by progress in the

concrete sciences. Every major scientific discovery is at the same time a step forward in the development of

the philosophical world-view and methodology. Philosophical statements are based on sets of facts studied by

the sciences and also on the system of propositions, principles, concepts and laws discovered through the

generalisation of these facts. The achievements of the specialised sciences are summed up in philosophical

statements. Euclidian geometry, the mechanics of Galileo and Newton, which have influenced men's minds

for centuries, were great achievements of human reason which played 'a significant role in forming world-

views and methodology. And what an intellectual revolution was produced by Copernicus' heliocentric

system, which changed the whole conception of the structure of the universe, or by Darwin's theory of

evolution, which had a profound impact on biological science in general and our whole conception of man's

place in nature. Mendeleyev's brilliant system of chemical elements deepened our understanding of the

structure of matter. Einstein's theory of relativity changed our notion of the relationship between matter,

motion, space and time. Quantum mechanics revealed hitherto unknown world of microparticles of matter.

The theory of higher nervous activity evolved by Sechenov and Pavlov deepened our understanding of the

material foundations of mental activity, of consciousness. Cybernetics revealed new horizons for an

understanding of the phenomena of information interactions, the principles of control in living systems, in

technological devices and in society, and also the principles of feedback, the man-machine system, and so on.

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And what philosophically significant pictures have been presented to us by genetics, which deepened our

understanding of the relationship between the biological and the social in man, a relationship that has revealed

the subtle mechanisms of heredity. The creation and development by Marx, Engels and Lenin of the science

of the laws of development of human society, which has changed people's view of their place in the natural

and social vortex of events, holds a special place in this constellation of achievements of human reason. If we

trace the whole history of natural and social science, we cannot fail to notice that scientists in their specific

researches, in constructing hypotheses and theories have constantly applied, sometimes unconsciously, world-

views and methodological principles, categories and logical systems evolved by philosophers and absorbed

by scientists in the process of their training and self education. All scientists who think in terms of theory

constantly speak of this with a deep feeling of gratitude both in their works and at regional and international

conferences and congresses. So the connection between philosophy and science is mutual and characterized

by their ever deepening interaction. Some people think that science has reached such a level of theoretical

thought that it no longer needs philosophy. But any scientist, particularly the theoretician, knows in his heart

that his creative activity is closely linked with philosophy and that without serious knowledge of philosophical

culture the results of that activity cannot become theoretically effective. All the outstanding theoreticians have

themselves been guided by philosophical thought and tried to inspire their pupils with its beneficent influence

in order to make them specialists capable of comprehensively and critically analysing all the principles and

systems known to science, discovering their internal contradictions and overcoming them by means of new

concepts. Real scientists, and by this we usually mean scientists with a powerful theoretical grasp, have never

turned their backs on philosophy. Truly scientific thought is philosophical to the core, just as truly

philosophical thought is profoundly scientific, rooted in the sum-total of scientific achievements Philosophical

training gives the scientist a breadth and penetration, a wider scope in posing and resolving problems.

Sometimes these qualities are brilliantly expressed, as in the work of Marx, particularly in his Capital, or in

Einstein's wide ranging natural scientific conceptions. The common ground of a substantial part of the content

of science, its facts and laws has always related it to philosophy, particularly in the field of the theory of

knowledge, and today this common ground links it with the problems of the moral and social aspects of

scientific discoveries and technical inventions. This is understandable enough. Today too many gifted minds

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are oriented on destructive goals. In ancient times, as we have seen, nearly every notable scientist was at the

same time a philosopher and every philosopher was to some extent a scientist. The connection between science

and philosophy has endured for thousands of years. In present-day conditions it has not only been preserved

but is also growing substantially stronger. The scale of the scientific work and the social significance of

research have acquired huge proportions. For example, philosophy and physics were at first organically

interconnected, particularly in the work of Galileo, Descartes, Kepler, Newton, Lomonosov, Mendeleyev and

Einstein, and generally in the work of all scientists with a broad outlook.

Natural Philosophy: Struggle with Tradition

Bacon's struggle to overcome intellectual blockades and the dogmatic slumber of his age and of earlier periods
had to be fought on many fronts. Very early on he criticized not only Plato, Aristotle and the Aristotelians, but
also humanists and Renaissance scholars such as Paracelsus and Bernardino Telesio.

Although Aristotle provided specific axioms for every scientific discipline, what Bacon found lacking in the
Greek philosopher's work was a master principle or general theory of science, which could be applied to all
branches of natural history and philosophy (Klein 2003a). For Bacon, Aristotle's cosmology, as well as his
theory of science, had become obsolete and consequently so too had many of the medieval thinkers who
followed his lead. He does not repudiate Aristotle completely, but he opposes the humanistic interpretation of
him, with its emphasis on syllogism and dialectics (scientia operativa versus textual hermeneutics) and the
metaphysical treatment of natural philosophy in favor of natural forms (or nature's effects as structured modes
of action, not artifacts), the stages of which correspond—in the shape of a pyramid of knowledge—to the
structural order of nature itself.

If any ‘modern’ Aristotelians came near to Bacon, it was the Venetian or Paduan branch, represented by Jacopo
Zabarella. On the other hand, Bacon criticized Telesio, who—in his view—had only halfway succeeded in
overcoming Aristotle's deficiencies. Although we find the debate with Telesio in an unpublished text of his
middle period (De Principiis atque Originibus, secundum fabulas Cupidinis et Coelum or On Principles and
Origins According to the Fables of Cupid and Coelum, written in 1612; Bacon V [1889], 461–500), Bacon
began to struggle with tradition as early as 1603. In Valerius Terminus (1603?) he already repudiates any
mixture of natural philosophy and divinity; he provides an outline of his new method and determines that the
end of knowledge was “a discovery of all operations and possibilities of operations from immortality (if it
were possible) to the meanest mechanical practice” (Bacon III [1887], 222). He opposes
Aristotelian anticipatio naturae, which favored the inquiry of causes to satisfy the mind instead of those “as
will direct him and give him light to new experiences and inventions” (Bacon III [1887], 232).

disciplines.When Bacon introduces his new systematic structure of the disciplines in The Advancement of
Learning (1605), he continues his struggle with tradition, primarily with classical antiquity, rejecting the book
learning of the humanists, on the grounds that they “hunt more after words than matter” (Bacon III [1887],
283). Accordingly, he criticizes the Cambridge University curriculum for placing too much emphasis on
dialectical and sophistical training asked of “minds empty and unfraught with matter” (Bacon III [1887], 326).
He reformulates and functionally transforms Aristotle's conception of science as knowledge of necessary
causes. He rejects Aristotle's logic, which is based on his metaphysical theory, whereby the false doctrine is
implied that the experience which comes to us by means of our senses (things as they appear) automatically
presents to our understanding things as they are. Simultaneously Aristotle favors the application of general

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and abstract conceptual distinctions, which do not conform to things as they exist. Bacon, however, introduces
his new conception of philosophia prima as a meta-level for all scientific

From 1606 to 1612 Bacon pursued his work on natural philosophy, still under the auspices of a struggle with
tradition. This tendency is exemplified in the unpublished tracts Temporis partus masculus, 1603/1608 (Bacon
III [1887], 521–31), Cogitata et Visa, 1607 (Bacon III, 591–620), Redargutio Philosophiarum, 1608 (III, 557–
85), and De Principiis atque Originibus…, 1612 (Bacon V [1889], 461–500). Bacon rediscovers the Pre-
Socratic philosophers for himself, especially the atomists and among them Democritus as the leading figure.
He gives preference to Democritus' natural philosophy in contrast to the scholastic—and thus Aristotelian—
focus on deductive logic and belief in authorities. Bacon does not expect any approach based on tradition to
start with a direct investigation of nature and then to ascend to empirical and general knowledge. This criticism
is extended to Renaissance alchemy, magic, and astrology (Temporis partus masculus), because the ‘methods’
of these ‘disciplines’ are based on occasional insights, but do not command strategies to reproduce the natural
effects under investigation. His criticism also concerns contemporary technical literature, in so far as it lacks
a new view of nature and an innovative methodological program. Bacon takes to task the ancients, the
scholastics and also the moderns. He not only criticizes Plato, Aristotle, and Galen for these failings, but also
Jean Fernel, Paracelsus, and Telesio, while praising the Greek atomists and Roger Bacon.

Bacon's manuscripts already mention the doctrine of the idols as a necessary condition for constituting scientia
operativa. In Cogitata et Visa he compares deductive logic as used by the scholastics to a spider's web, which
is drawn out of its own entrails, whereas the bee is introduced as an image of scientia operativa. Like a bee,
the empiricist, by means of his inductive method, collects the natural matter or products and then works them
up into knowledge in order to produce honey, which is useful for healthy nutrition.

In Bacon's follow-up paper, Redargutio Philosophiarum, he carries on his empiricist project by referring to the
doctrine of twofold truth, while in De Principiis atque Originibus he rejects alchemical theories concerning
the transformation of substances in favor of Greek atomism. But in the same text he sharply criticizes his
contemporary Telesio for propagating a non-experimental halfway house empiricism. Though Telesio proves
to be a moderate ‘modern’, he clings to the Aristotelian framework by continuing to believe in the quinta
essentia and in the doctrine of the two worlds, which presupposes two modes of natural law (one mode for the
sublunary and another for the superlunary sphere).

Conclusion:

Finally, the view that Bacon's Nova Atlantis “concerns a utopian society that is carefully organized for the
purposes of scientific research and virtuous living” (Urbach 1988, 10) holds true for his entire life's work. In
Nova Atlantis, social, political, and scholarly life are all organized according to the maxim of efficiency; but
the House of Solomon is a separate and highly esteemed institution for research, which nevertheless is closely
connected to the overall system of Bensalem. In his utopian state, Bacon presents a thoroughgoing collective
life in society and science, both of which are based on revealed religion. Religion—Christian in essence—is
not dogmatic, but it instills into the people of Bensalem veneration for the wise and morally exemplary
members of society, and—which is of the utmost importance—the strictest sense of discipline (Gaukroger
2001, 128–30). Discipline is indispensable for those involved in the religious life as well as for the researchers,
since both must proceed methodically. The isomorphic structures of nature and science, on the one hand,
society and religion, on the other, prescribe patterns of political procedure, social processes, and religious
attitudes, which overcome any craving for individuality. If religion and scientific research are both shown as
truthful in Bensalem, then, according to Bacon, the imagination functions as a means of illustrating scientific
revelation: “Bacon's purpose is … to show that scientific research properly pursued is not inconsonant with
religious propriety and social stability…” (Bierman 1963, 497). The scientists in Bensalem are sacred
searchers for truth: ethics, religion, and science merge. Bacon's parabolic strategy, which we should not

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separate from the power of the idols, enables him to make much of his trick of introducing new ideas like a
smuggler: his colored wares are smuggled into the minds of his readers by being visualized in terms of sacred
and highly symbolic rituals.

Q.4 Write a comprehensive not eon the “Scientific Realism”.

An important strand in the story of the philosophy of science in the past three decades has been a struggle

between realists and anti-realists. The debate turns around the most adequate way of interpreting scientific

theories that refer to unobservable entities, processes, and properties. Realists maintain that the entities

postulated by scientific theories (electrons, genes, quasars) are real entities in the world, with approximately

the properties attributed to them by the best available scientific theories. Instrumentalists, on the other hand,

maintain that theories are no more than instruments of calculation, permitting the scientist to infer from one

set of observable circumstances to another set of observable circumstances at some later point in time.

(Important recent contributions to the theory of scientific realism include.

Emergence of scientific realism:

It is worth noting at the outset that scientific realism emerges from a tradition of thought in empiricist

philosophy of science; but that it provides the basis for a cogent critique of many early positivist assumptions.

In particular, scientific realists have rejected (obviously) the instrumentalism associated with logical

positivism; the assumption that all scientific knowledge takes the form of empirical regularities; the

assumption that the ultimate goal of scientific research is the formulation of lawlike generalizations; and, to

some extent, the assumption that the hypothetico-deductive model is the unavoidable foundation of empirical

reasoning in the sciences. Scientific realism is therefore a sympathetic basis in the philosophy of social science

for those philosophers and sociologists who are most concerned to put aside the positivist origins of both

philosophy of science and sociology. Mario Bunge argues strongly that scientific realism is most suited to an

appropriate methodology for the social sciences.

Representation of scientific realim:

The issue of scientific realism has been one of the central hinges of debate within the philosophy of science

for the past thirty years. The central issue is this: Do scientific theories and hypotheses refer to real but

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unobservable entities, forces, and relations? Or should we interpret theories and hypotheses as convenient

systems through which to summarize the empirical regularities of observable entities and processes, with the

apparent reference to unobservable as simply a faon de parler with no greater significance than the imagined

can opener in the classic joke about the economist and the accountant? Scientific realism maintains that we

can reasonably construe scientific theories as providing knowledge about unobservable entities, forces, and

processes, and that understanding the progress of science requires that we do so. Instrumental-ism denies that

it is reasonable to interpret hypotheses as referring to real unobservable entities; instead, a scientific theory

should be understood as an instrument of calculation, permitting the scientist to make predictions about one

set of observable variables on the basis of knowledge of the current state of another set of observable variables.

We may take Jarrett Leplins formulation as a representative statement of scientific realism:

• The best current scientific theories are at least approximately true.

• The central terms of the best current theories are genuinely referential.

• The approximate truth of a scientific theory is sufficient explanation of its predictive success.

• The (approximate) truth of a scientific theory is the only possible explanation of its predictive success.

• A scientific theory may be approximately true even inferentially unsuccessful.

• The history of at least the mature sciences shows progressive approximation to a true account of the

physical world.

• The theoretical claims of scientific theories are to be read literally, and so read are definitively true or

false.

• Scientific theories make genuine, existential claims.

• The predictive success of a theory is evidence for the referential success of its central terms.

• Science aims at a literally true account of the physical world, and its success is to be reckoned by its

progress toward achieving this aim.

Conclusion:

Debates about scientific realism most commonly derive their scientific examples from the natural sciences.

The entities in question are such things as quarks, genes, quasars, and superfluid‘s. But social theories too

involve concepts that appear to refer to unobservable entities: classes, systems of norms, and scissors crises,

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for example. So the issue of realism arises in the social sciences as well. If we have an empirically

wellconfirmed theory that invokes the concept of an X (a hypothetical social entity or force), is this a reason

to believe that exist? Or is there some reason to suppose that the ontological assumptions of scientific realism

are justified in the natural sciences but not in the social sciences?

Q.5 Critically analyze the contribution of BF Skinner to Learning.

B. F. Skinner (1904–90) was a leading American psychologist, Harvard professor and proponent of the

behaviourist theory of learning in which learning is a process of ‗conditioning‘ in an environment of stimulus,

reward and punishment.

Operant Conditioning:

Skinner explains the difference between informal learning, which occurs naturally, and formal education,

which depends on the teacher creating optimal patterns of stimulus and response (reward and publishment),

or ‗operant conditioning‘:

An important process in human behavior is attributed … to ‗reward and punishment‘. Thorndike described it

in his Law of Effect. It is now commonly referred to as ‗operant conditioning‘ … The essentials may be seen

in a typical experimental arrangement. A hungry rat [can be seen] in an experimental space which contains a

food dispenser. A horizontal bar at the end of a lever projects from one wall. Depression of the lever operates

a switch. When the switch is connected with the food dispenser, any behavior on part of the rat which depresses

the lever is, as we say, ‗reinforced with food‘. The apparatus simply makes the appearance of food contingent

upon the occurrence of an arbitrary bit of behavior … The relation between a response and its consequences

may be simple, and the change in probability of the response is not surprising. What is technologically useful

in operant conditioning is our increasing knowledge of the extraordinarily subtle and complex properties of

behavior which may be traced to subtle and complex features of the contingencies of reinforcement which

prevail in the environment …

application of operant conditioning :

The application of operant conditioning to education is simple and direct. Teaching is the arrangement of

contingencies of reinforcement under which students learn. They learn without teaching in their natural

environments, but teachers arrange special contingencies which expedite learning, hastening the appearance

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of behavior which would otherwise be acquired slowly or making sure of the appearance of behavior which

might otherwise never occur …

Pedagogy and operant conducting:

In improving teaching it is less important to find new enforcers than to design better contingencies using those

already available. Immediate and consistent reinforcement is, of course, desirable but this is not to deny the

importance of intermittent or remote reinforces. The student who knows how to study knows how to amplify

immediate consequences so that they prove reinforcing. He not only knows, he knows that he knows and is

reinforced accordingly. The transition from external reinforcement to the self-generated reinforcement of

knowing what one knows is often badly handled. In a small class the precurrent behavior of listening, reading,

solving problems, and composing sentences is reinforced frequently and almost immediately, but in a large

lecture course the consequences are infrequent and deferred. If mediating devices have not been set up, if the

student is not automatically reinforced for knowing that he knows, he then stops working, and the aversive

by-product of not-knowing pile up.

Conclusion:

Frequent reinforcement raises another problem if it reduces the teacher‘s reinforcing power. Money, food,

grades, and honors must be husbanded carefully, but the automatic reinforcements of being right and moving

forward are inexhaustible.

Strictly speaking, the student cannot reinforce or punish himself by withholding positive or negative reinforces

until he has behaved in a given way, but he can seek out or arrange conditions under which his behavior is

reinforced or punished. He can create reinforcing events, as by checking an answer to a problem. He can stop

emitting unreinforced responses in an unfavorable situation … for example, he can learn not to read books

which are too hard for him so that his inclination to read other books will not suffer. Education has never

taught the self-management of motivation very effectively. It has seldom tried. But techniques become

available as soon as the problem is understood.

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