ABSTRACT
N. L. Gage has been one of the most consistent scholars in our discipline. He has made clear what he seeks. He seeks no less than a scientific basis for the art of teaching (e.g., Gage, 1978). Why not accept that teaching is a practical art? After all, teachers cannot strictly follow formulas, rules, or algorithms. Teaching regularly calls for individualization, improvisation, creativity, and emotional sensitivity. In short, teaching requires artistry, and to complicate the picture, that artistry must be displayed in real-time and in public settings. For many scholars, these are conditions of employment that preclude assistance from science. But N. L. Gage consistently has found such despair unwarranted.
It matters greatly whether a mode of inquiry and a body of knowledge have scientific standing. Scientific method is recognized as the major avenue into valid knowledge about certain important aspects of the world. The victories of the natural sciences have led us to seek similar achievements in the world of human affairs by using the same general methods. (Gage, 1994, p. 565)
But what do we mean by scientific knowledge? [It is] first, knowledge obtained empirically, through observation and experience, in ways that are public, that is communicable and, in principle, available to other persons with the necessary training and facilities. Second, scientific knowledge is relatively precise, clearly defined, 392obtained with reliable instruments or procedures. Third, scientific knowledge is relatively objective in that it is determined by the data more than by the investigator’s preferences, hopes, biases, or personal advantage. Fourth, scientific knowledge is replicable in that one investigator’s findings can be obtained by other investigators who have the requisite competencies. Fifth, scientific knowledge becomes relatively systematic and cumulative in that it develops into an organized system of nonfalsified propositions, or a theoretical framework. Sixth, scientific knowledge makes possible the understanding or explanation of relationships between variables, the prediction with better-than-chance accuracy of the value of one variable on the basis of earlier knowledge of another variable, and control or improvement of one variable as a result of the deliberate change in another variable. Finally, scientific knowledge has survived attempts to falsify it. (Gage, 1992, p. 9).
