Science denial has a long history of causing harm in contemporary society when ignored. Recent discussions of science denial suggest that correcting people’s false beliefs rarely has an impact on eliminating the adherence to false beliefs and assumptions, which is called the backfire effect. This paper brings the backfire effect within the context of science denial to the attention of science education researchers and practitioners and discusses the potential role(s) of epistemic understanding of knowledge production in science in dealing with the rejection of scientific evidence and claims in science classrooms. The use of epistemic understanding of knowledge production in science with a focus on avoiding the backfire effect may increase the potential for science education research to produce fruitful strategies which advance students’ attitudes toward science and deepen students’ understanding of how science works through divergent perspectives. There are some areas that need to be focused on and investigated for their potential to combat science denial and the backfire effect while foregrounding the role(s) epistemic understanding of knowledge production for science instruction. These areas include expanding ways of knowing and marking the boundary between the scientific way of knowing and other ways of knowing at the same time, comparing claims and arguments that derive from different frameworks, teaching about the power and limitations of science, and bringing different and similar ways science is done to students’ attention.
...More
Article
Carlo Martini;
Mattia Andreoletti;
(2021)
Genuine versus bogus scientific controversies: the case of statins
(/isis/citation/CBB565831259/)
Article
Stephen John;
(2022)
The Two Virtues of Science
(/isis/citation/CBB589589263/)
Article
H. Otto Sibum;
(2020)
When is enough enough? Accurate measurement and the integrity of scientific research
(/isis/citation/CBB773125013/)
Article
Richard Staley;
(2019)
Partisans and the Use of Knowledge versus Science
(/isis/citation/CBB996112604/)
Article
Markus Emden;
(2021)
Reintroducing “the” Scientific Method to Introduce Scientific Inquiry in Schools?
(/isis/citation/CBB433179833/)
Book
Lee McIntyre;
(2021)
How to Talk to a Science Denier: Conversations with Flat Earthers, Climate Deniers, and Others Who Defy Reason
(/isis/citation/CBB702116961/)
Article
Michiel Meeusen;
(2022)
A Wine a Day …: Medical Experts and Expertise in Plutarch’s Table Talk
(/isis/citation/CBB990142165/)
Article
Michel Pretalli;
(2019)
Hannibal versus Phormio: Theory and Practice in Italian Military Literature at the End of the Renaissance
(/isis/citation/CBB555691679/)
Article
Alexandru Marcoci;
James Nguyen;
(2020)
Judgement aggregation in scientific collaborations: The case for waiving expertise
(/isis/citation/CBB954706835/)
Book
Inmaculada de Melo-Martín;
Kristen Intemann;
(2018)
The Fight Against Doubt: How to Bridge the Gap Between Scientists and the Public
(/isis/citation/CBB549674958/)
Article
Simon Shogry;
(2019)
What do our Impressions Say? The Stoic Theory of Perceptual Content and Belief Formation
(/isis/citation/CBB886369624/)
Article
Paige L Sweet;
Danielle Giffort;
(June 2021)
The bad expert
(/isis/citation/CBB216520442/)
Article
Elsa Faugère;
Dorothée Dussy;
(July 2021)
Obstacles to Greener Beekeeping in France: Anthropological Approach
(/isis/citation/CBB050305265/)
Article
Daston, Lorraine;
(2005)
Scientific Error and the Ethos of Belief
(/isis/citation/CBB000650655/)
Book
Leonardo Ambasciano;
D. Jason Slone;
Donald Wiebe;
Luther H. Martin;
Radek Kundt;
William W. McCorkle Jr;
(2018)
An Unnatural History of Religions: Academia, Post-truth and the Quest for Scientific Knowledge
(/isis/citation/CBB840908594/)
Article
Luciano Levin;
(2020)
Advising and controling: Science communication at a crossroads
(/isis/citation/CBB642580991/)
Article
Papadopoulos, Dimitris;
(April 2011)
Alter-ontologies: Towards a constituent politics in technoscience
(/isis/citation/CBB185760393/)
Article
Christina Brandt;
Helmut Maier;
Helmut Pulte;
(2019)
Einleitung (Introduction to Special Section on Knowledge and Environment)
(/isis/citation/CBB411993127/)
Essay Review
Peter Davson-Galle;
(2018)
Radical Scepticism: An Issue for Science Education?
(/isis/citation/CBB905829629/)
Article
Robert Meunier;
(2019)
Project knowledge and its resituation in the design of research projects: Seymour Benzer's behavioral genetics, 1965-1974
(/isis/citation/CBB350013193/)
Be the first to comment!