ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the teaching of a single topic, pendulum motion, will be used to illustrate the claims being made about the benefits of a liberal or contextual approach to science education. Pendulum motion is chosen in part because it has a place in nearly all science programmes, and also because it is a relatively pedestrian topic. In ‘hot’ topics, such as evolution, genetic engineering, nuclear energy, climate change or acid rain, historical and philosophical considerations are obviously useful. If the case for HPS can be made with a ‘boring’ topic, then the usefulness of HPS for science teaching is better established. Furthermore, the science of pendulum motion illustrates important general topics alluded to in this book, including:
the interplay of mathematics, observation and experiment in the development of modern science;
the reciprocal impacts of science on culture and society;
the interactions of philosophy and science;
the distinction between material objects and these objects as treated by science;
the ambiguous role of empirical evidence in the justification or falsification of scientific claims;
the contrast between modern scientific conceptualisations and those of common sense.
