Socialization of graduate students into epistemic cultures: The Nature of Science and the Nature of Scientists
Open Access
- Author:
- Mohan, Ashwin
- Graduate Program:
- Curriculum and Instruction
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- May 01, 2023
- Committee Members:
- Carlomagno Panlilio, Outside Unit & Field Member
Scott Mcdonald, Major Field Member
Gail Boldt, Major Field Member
Greg Kelly, Chair & Dissertation Advisor
Carla Zembal-Saul, Program Head/Chair - Keywords:
- Nature of Science
DBER
Post-secondary education
STEM education
Ethnography - Abstract:
- Research in the field of Nature of Science (NOS) has witnessed the creation of multiple models and frameworks, particularly in the last two decades, addressing tensions between different theoretical approaches for understanding science and scientific communities. However, these frameworks do not consider the critical aspect of how embodied professional and personal identities of scientists and students practicing within the epistemic culture of a scientific community affects how NOS is perceived, taken up, and responded to in situ. Nor have there been frameworks of NOS that have incorporated how what counts as science and scientific productivity evolve over time and across positionalities within the community. Through an ethnographic approach, this dissertation study examines research communities in gravitational cosmology and geosciences, incorporating theoretical ideas from Self-Regulated Learning and Foucauldian conceptions of power/knowledge. Beginning from the Family Resemblance Approach to NOS, the study shows how NOS is differently taken up by different practitioners of science. This examination of the two epistemic cultures of these sciences (cosmology and geoscience) led to the proposal of the novel Nature of Scientist framework, which characterizes a set of practices for individuals to negotiate their identity within participatory and community structures that give rise to a Nature of Science within the community. The study proposes a different set of considerations and additional criteria to incorporate into any framework of NOS, particularly as it relates to educational experiences for undergraduate and graduate science students who will then go on to become a part of scientific communities themselves.