１２年前にハンガリーで開催された国際物理教育学会で発表した英文論文を掲載します。あれ以後、研究が止まってしまったことが残念です。当時はプリントしたものに図を貼り付けたので、この論文では図が抜けています。後日入れようと思います。
HypothesisExperiment Method in High School Physics Education
――An Example Through a Lesson in Collisions.
Norio Watanabe, Ueda High School, Ueda city, Nagano Prefecture
Advocacy and Advancement of HypothesisExperiment Method Classes.
The HypothesisExperiment Method was first advocated by Kiyonobu Itakura*1 in 1963. This method, which arose as a result of Itakura's research of the history of science and explained in his thesis Advancement of Scientific Awareness describes methods in science education.
Findings from Itakura's Research
Itakura suggests from his research that a natural atomic view must be added to and not overshadowed by the standard modern science texts which have stressed demonstration of proof and mathematical thinking. The value of scientific logic is that it goes beyond everyday common knowledge. In order to emphasize this, a conscious effort must be made in scientific education. It is necessary to teach the method of using scientific logic, with its remarkable ability to be broadly applicable, over simple intuition based on common knowledge. For this reason, the HypothesisExperiment Method Class doesn't just focus on numerical evidence and proof centered ways of thinking, but also places great, global importance on fundamental concepts of natural science, which had not been recognized to this point, as well as principles of education itself.
The following is an outline of Itakura's Advancement of Scientific Awareness from his book Science and Method summarized by Norio Watanabe.
Scientific Awareness Depends Solely on Predictions of Experiments.
Very often, students are taught as if they were blank pages. However, in actuality, even before they receive education in natural science, they already have a certain intuitive image of it. Thus, when students are taught truth from a purely scientific point of view, they are not able to fully absorb it since their own intuitive awareness doesn't coincide with what they are taught. In order to effectively carry out science education, it is essential that experiments be performed which compare and contrast awareness garnered from scientific logic with the students' already ingrained intuitive knowledge. The HypothesisExperiment Method Class is designed to demonstrate contrasts between these two ways of thinking. Students are asked to make predictions about a given problem, and after clearly stating what they think the outcome will produce, do an experiment to determine whether or not their predictions were accurate. Through this process alone it is believed that scientific awareness is established.
Scientific Awareness is Societal Awareness.
Suppose someone were to make a discovery of a scientific principle. If this principle were not announced to the public nor recognized by society, one could not say that it had found an established place in science. The role of a scientist is not to shed light on truth, but rather to clearly display truth in a form which compels anyone to readily accept it. A principle or theory which is not stated in a form able to adequately convince most students of its validity cannot claim to be sound science as far as the students are concerned. Even a theory which is scientifically soundly established has no more than a hypothetical existence in the eyes of one who endeavors to understand it for the first time.
