ABSTRACT
The quest for a “science of science education” (Linn, 1986, p. 156) has been the focus of a good deal of effort in the last decade or so, and has proved so promising that discussion has begun on the ways that such knowledge can be incorporated into the professional practice and preparation of science teachers (e.g., Anderson, 1987). Even so, it will be some time before we can speak of a systematic body of knowledge, empirically related to cognitive accounts of science and the learning of science on the one hand and to pedagogical practice and theory on the other hand. No such systematization will be possible, in our view, in the absence of a coherent and psychologically realistic account of the nature of scientific thinking as such. Thus, the major purposes of this chapter are (a) to review certain advances in the cognitive psychology of science and (b) to suggest possible implications for curricular issues and teaching strategies.
