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Darwin’s Error: Using the Story of Pangenesis to Illustrate Aspects of Nature of Science in the Classroom
William F. McComas
The American Biology Teacher, Vol. 74 No. 3, March 2012; (pp. 151-156) DOI: 10.1525/abt.2012.74.3.5
WILLIAM F. McCOMAS is Parks Family Professor of Science Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Arkansas, 310 Peabody Hall, Fayetteville, AR 72701. E-mail: mccomas@uark.edu
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Abstract

This article discusses a number of aspects of the nature of science that can be illustrated by considering the development of pangenesis, a principle proposed by Charles Darwin to describe the rules of inheritance, explain the source of new variation, and solve other natural history puzzles. Pangenesis – although false – can be used to illustrate important nature of science ideas such as the need for empirical evidence, the use of inductive reasoning, the creative component of science, the role of bias and subjectivity, social and personal influences on science, and the notion that scientific knowledge is tentative but durable, yet self correcting.

  • History of science
  • Charles Darwin
  • heredity
  • nature of science
  • © 2012 by National Association of Biology Teachers. All rights reserved. Request permission to photocopy or reproduce article content at the University of California Press’s Rights and Permissions Web site at http://www.ucpressjournals.com/reprintinfo.asp.
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Vol. 74 No. 3, March 2012

The American Biology Teacher: 74 (3)
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Darwin’s Error: Using the Story of Pangenesis to Illustrate Aspects of Nature of Science in the Classroom
William F. McComas
The American Biology Teacher, Vol. 74 No. 3, March 2012; (pp. 151-156) DOI: 10.1525/abt.2012.74.3.5
WILLIAM F. McCOMAS is Parks Family Professor of Science Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Arkansas, 310 Peabody Hall, Fayetteville, AR 72701. E-mail: mccomas@uark.edu

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Darwin’s Error: Using the Story of Pangenesis to Illustrate Aspects of Nature of Science in the Classroom
William F. McComas
The American Biology Teacher, Vol. 74 No. 3, March 2012; (pp. 151-156) DOI: 10.1525/abt.2012.74.3.5
WILLIAM F. McCOMAS is Parks Family Professor of Science Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Arkansas, 310 Peabody Hall, Fayetteville, AR 72701. E-mail: mccomas@uark.edu
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  • Top
  • Article
    • Abstract
    • Darwin’s Hypothesis of Pangenesis
    • Pangenesis: Its Legacy as an Illustration of the Nature of Science
    • The Tools & Processes of Science
    • The Human Dimension of Science
    • Scientific Knowledge & Its Limitations
    • Acknowledgments
    • References
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  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF

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