科学を学ぶ価値をめぐって : 『科学者集団の文化としての科学』という視座から

抄録

Recent progress in philosophy, history, and sociology of science has made us aware that the image of Western Modern Science we have believed so far is far from what it really is. Western Modern Science is now believed to be not the knowledge, but a kind of knowledge. This inevitably leads us science educators to realize that Western Modern Science can be set in a relativistic perspective. Another research trend has been appearing in science education enterprise. That is the trend in which Western Modern Science could be treated as a type of 'Culture' in the science education context. Integrating these trends together, the author aims in this article to propose a new perspective of science education, "Science as the Culture of Scientific Community". Then, the value or worth of learning science is examined from that perspective through the processes of criticizing the classical view of the value or worth of learning science, that is, the practical value, and the literate worth of science. The new contents of science classes are also proposed.