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Papers by Mansoor Niaz

Representations of Nature of Science in School Science Textbooks, 2017

Paul Karl Feyerabend has been considered as the worst enemy of science, an enfant terrible, and i... more Paul Karl Feyerabend has been considered as the worst enemy of science, an enfant terrible, and is generally considered to be the maximum exponent of epistemological anarchism (Theocaris & Psimopoulos, 1987). However, what it actually entails is difficult to understand and its meaning elusive. For example, in his famous Against Method (Feyerabend, 1975a) he provides counterexamples against standard methodological advice, such as: Do not allow theories in contradiction with observations, only allow theories that can be potentially falsified, generalize inductively from facts, maintain a clear difference and distinction between theories and facts, and metaphysical ideas need not have a central role in scientific theorizing. In other words in actual scientific practice such advice may not be followed, and this was Feyerabend’s major concern. No wonder, the New York Times headlined its obituary of Feyerabend as “Anti-science philosopher” (published March 8, 1994) and then continued to a...

It is well known that most of Feyerabend’s ideas on epistemological anarchism developed as a cons... more It is well known that most of Feyerabend’s ideas on epistemological anarchism developed as a constant dialogue with Imre Lakatos (cf. Motterlini, 1999). Furthermore, in developing his ideas, Feyerabend was constantly critiquing both Karl Popper and Lakatos. In order to facilitate a better understanding of the debate between Feyerabend and Lakatos, here I present a brief description of the Lakatosian Methodology of Scientific Research Programs (MSRP). (I am grateful to David Geelan for this suggestion). According to Lakatos (1970) the basic unit of appraisal must not be an isolated theory or conjunction of theories but rather a “research program,” with a conventionally accepted “hard core” and with a “positive heuristic” which defines problems, outlines the construction of a “belt of auxiliary hypotheses,” foresees anomalies and turns them victoriously into examples, all according to a preconceived plan. The “negative heuristic” represents the “hard core” of the program, consisting o...

The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this p... more The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.

Evolving Nature of Objectivity in the History of Science and its Implications for Science Education, 2017

Based on a website search with the keyword “objectivity,” 131 articles in the 23 year period (199... more Based on a website search with the keyword “objectivity,” 131 articles in the 23 year period (1992–2014) referred to some form of objectivity and were classified according to the following criteria: Level I, traditional understanding of objectivity as found in science textbooks and positivist philosophers of science; Level II, a simple mention of objectivity as an academic/literary objective; Level III, problematic nature of objectivity is recognized, however, no mention is made of its changing/evolving nature; Level IV, an approximation to the evolving/changing nature of objectivity based on social and cultural aspects; Level V, a detailed historical reconstruction of the evolving nature of objectivity that recognized the role of the scientific community and its implications for science education. Results obtained showed the following distribution of the 131 articles evaluated: Level I = 5, Level II = 56, Level III = 58, Level IV = 10, and Level V = 2. Only 9% (12 out of 131) of the articles were considered to have an understanding of objectivity that approximated to its historical evolution. Four articles referred to the work of Daston and Galison on objectivity and only one mentioned “trained judgment.” One article based on the work of Longino (explanatory plurality) reconciled the objectivity of science with its social and cultural construction (Level IV).

Evolving Nature of Objectivity in the History of Science and its Implications for Science Education, 2017

Based on a website search with the keyword “objectivity,” 131 articles in the 23 year period (199... more Based on a website search with the keyword “objectivity,” 131 articles in the 23 year period (1992–2014) referred to some form of objectivity and were classified according to the following criteria: Level I, traditional understanding of objectivity as found in science textbooks and positivist philosophers of science; Level II, a simple mention of objectivity as an academic/literary objective; Level III, problematic nature of objectivity is recognized, however, no mention is made of its changing/evolving nature; Level IV, an approximation to the evolving/changing nature of objectivity based on social and cultural aspects; Level V, a detailed historical reconstruction of the evolving nature of objectivity that recognized the role of the scientific community and its implications for science education. Results obtained showed the following distribution of the 131 articles evaluated: Level I = 5, Level II = 56, Level III = 58, Level IV = 10, and Level V = 2. Only 9% (12 out of 131) of the articles were considered to have an understanding of objectivity that approximated to its historical evolution. Four articles referred to the work of Daston and Galison on objectivity and only one mentioned “trained judgment.” One article based on the work of Longino (explanatory plurality) reconciled the objectivity of science with its social and cultural construction (Level IV).

Educación Química, 2018

El objetivo de este trabajo es presentar una perspectiva basada en la historia y filosofía de la ... more El objetivo de este trabajo es presentar una perspectiva basada en la historia y filosofía de la ciencia y analizar sus implicaciones para los textos de química general. Análisis de los textos en los diferentes tópicos (estructura atómica, carga eléctrica elemental, teoría cinética, enlace covalente, leyes ponderales y tabla periódica) muestra que la mayoría de los textos no utilizan la historia y la filosofía de la ciencia para facilitar la comprensión conceptual. Casi todos los textos utilizan una estructura del discurso, que Schwab (1962) llamó la retórica de conclusiones y asimismo ignoran los principios heurísticos que facilitaron el desarrollo científico y podrían ayudar a los estudiantes a conceptuar y no memorizar los diferentes tópicos. Se concluye que la presentación de los textos es muy ceñida a la tradición empirista y tie ne poco que ver con la naturaleza de la ciencia que se basa en la búsqueda de los diferentes factores que inciden en la construcción de las teorías ci...

SpringerBriefs in Education, 2016

Encyclopedia of Science Education, 2013

Springer briefs in education, 2016

Feyerabend’s Epistemological Anarchism, 2020

In both philosophy of science and science education, Feyerabend is generally considered to be aga... more In both philosophy of science and science education, Feyerabend is generally considered to be against rationalism, anti-science and for having espoused anything goes. Based on material presented in the previous chapters, here I will attempt to show that this image is erroneous and that on the contrary Feyerabend was presenting a picture of science that represented "how science really works." 8.1 Feyerabend's Hyperbolic Flourishes At the end of his fourth lecture at the Faculty of Sociology, University of Trent, Italy in May 1992 (about 2 years before his death), someone from the audience asked Feyerabend to clarify his position with respect to his controversial thesis of "Anything goes". Feyerabend provided the following scenario: To be situated on a solid Earth is a first and basic experience. However, Anaximander said that the Earth floats in the midst of air. Just think, it is surprising as nothing floats in air. Still, Anaximander insists that the heavy Earth floats in air. According to modern criteria this was certainly anarchism, as it developed and led to something. Thus, "Anything goes only means do not put a limit on your imagination" (Feyerabend, 1999a, p. 157, Spanish edition of the Trent Lectures). In his Killing Time, Feyerabend (1995) clarified that he was not against rationalism per se, but only against those forms that were rigid and pompous. J. Agassi (2014) in his Popper and his popular critics: Thomas Kuhn, Paul Feyerabend and Imre Lakatos, has highlighted the fact that some of Feyerabend's anti-rationalistic and hyperbolic flourishes (e.g., science is not superior to magic) were primarily teasers or challenges to defend diversity, and Feyerabend acknowledged this aspect in his correspondence with Agassi. Ben-Ari (2005) has suggested that Feyerabend's (1975a/1993, p. 14), anything goes, is helpful when it comes to choosing pedagogic methods that will improve

Enseñanza de las Ciencias. Revista de investigación y experiencias didácticas, 1994

The history of science shows that positivism was the dominant philosophy from about the end of th... more The history of science shows that positivism was the dominant philosophy from about the end of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century. The main objective of this article is to present a critique of positivist ideas and show how the new philosophy of science, as represented by Lakatos, has important implications for science education.

Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 2020

Many researchers have suggested that incorporating history and philosophy of science in the scien... more Many researchers have suggested that incorporating history and philosophy of science in the science curriculum can be helpful for students' understanding of scientific concepts and effective for developing their scientific thinking. Recently, in this context, there have been studies on historical controversies which show that history of science promotes debate and controversy and thus sustains students' effort to understand what is being taught. However, existing studies have only searched and selected what the historical controversial issues exist and have not dealt with more practical issues such as how to use them in the classroom. In this study, for finding guide to teach controversial issues in history of science, we analyzed controversial issues related to the structure of the atom to understand their structure by using the 'framework of knowledge and belief'. As a result, it was confirmed that the structures of the historical controversies consisted of various forms from the conceptual level to the belief level. Finally, the implications related to the use of the result of this study in the classroom, and to science education research were discussed.

This article has evaluated the presentation of Rutherford's experiment in 35 university level... more This article has evaluated the presentation of Rutherford's experiment in 35 university level general physics textbooks, within a History and Philosophy of Science context. In general the textbooks ignore the importance of rivalry between two conflicting frameworks, as for example Thomson and Rutherford models of the atom (criterion 1). Very few textbooks mention that the crucial argument in favor of the Rutherford model was not the large angle of deflection of alpha particles but rather the finding that only 1 in 20.000 particles deflected through large angles (criterion 2). Again, the textbooks ignore the controversy with respect to Thomson's hypothesis of compound scattering in contrapositlon to Rutherford's hypothesis of single scattering, in order to explain the large angle deflections of alpha particles (criterion 3). Very few textbooks present the work ofThomson and Rutherford in ahistorical context and lack a History and Philosophy of Science perspective.

In this chapter, I first explore the relationship between transgression and objectivity and then ... more In this chapter, I first explore the relationship between transgression and objectivity and then study the importance of Scanning tunneling microscope (STM) and Atomic force microscope (AFM) for chemical research (nanotechnology) and how these are presented in general chemistry textbooks. In order to understand scientific progress, Roald Hoffmann (2012), Nobel Laureate in chemistry, invokes the idea of “transgression of categorization” and Daston and Galison (2007) refer to it as violating the rules dictated by objectivity. When consulted, Hoffmann confirmed that the two concepts approximate to each other. Furthermore, both understand the transgression of objectivity in the context of Hacking’s (1983) differentiation between “representation” and “intervention.” Nanotechnology is not concerned about errors in our knowledge, nor if we are dealing with real objects but rather with creating and manipulating to construct a new world of atom-sized objects. In this context, it is plausible...

Enseñanza de las Ciencias. Revista de investigación y experiencias didácticas, 2006

This paper tries to look into the field depenleve of students' performance in Piagetians task... more This paper tries to look into the field depenleve of students' performance in Piagetians tasks based on different types of reasoning. The results show that over 50% of introductory courses of Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics and Biology are field dependent.

Feyerabend’s Epistemological Anarchism, 2020

The Journal of Research in Science Teaching (JRST) is the official journal of the US-based Nation... more The Journal of Research in Science Teaching (JRST) is the official journal of the US-based National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST), which has members in many countries around the world. JRST started publishing in 1963 and is indexed in the Social Sciences Citation Index (Thomson-Reuter). In October 2017, I made an online search on the website of JRST with the key words “epistemological anarchism” and “Feyerabend” (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10982736). This gave a total of 21 articles which were evaluated on the same criteria (Levels I–V) as in the previous study (see Chap. 3). Following the guidelines based on Charmaz (2005), presented in Chap. 3, and in order to facilitate credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability (cf. Denzin & Lincoln, 2005) of the results, I adopted the following procedure: a) All the 21 articles from the Journal of Research in Science Teaching, were downloaded and after evaluation were classified in one of the five levels, I–V (for levels see Chap. 3); After a period of approximately three months all the articles were evaluated again and there was agreement of 93% between the first and the second evaluation. It is important to note that all the articles evaluated in this study referred to epistemological anarchism in some context, which may not have been the primary or major subject dealt with by the authors. Detailed examples from different levels are presented in the next section. A complete list of all the 21 articles from JRST that were evaluated is presented in Appendix 3. Distribution of all the articles according to author’s area of research, context of the study and level (classification) is presented in Appendix 4.

Representations of Nature of Science in School Science Textbooks, 2017

Paul Karl Feyerabend has been considered as the worst enemy of science, an enfant terrible, and i... more Paul Karl Feyerabend has been considered as the worst enemy of science, an enfant terrible, and is generally considered to be the maximum exponent of epistemological anarchism (Theocaris & Psimopoulos, 1987). However, what it actually entails is difficult to understand and its meaning elusive. For example, in his famous Against Method (Feyerabend, 1975a) he provides counterexamples against standard methodological advice, such as: Do not allow theories in contradiction with observations, only allow theories that can be potentially falsified, generalize inductively from facts, maintain a clear difference and distinction between theories and facts, and metaphysical ideas need not have a central role in scientific theorizing. In other words in actual scientific practice such advice may not be followed, and this was Feyerabend’s major concern. No wonder, the New York Times headlined its obituary of Feyerabend as “Anti-science philosopher” (published March 8, 1994) and then continued to a...

It is well known that most of Feyerabend’s ideas on epistemological anarchism developed as a cons... more It is well known that most of Feyerabend’s ideas on epistemological anarchism developed as a constant dialogue with Imre Lakatos (cf. Motterlini, 1999). Furthermore, in developing his ideas, Feyerabend was constantly critiquing both Karl Popper and Lakatos. In order to facilitate a better understanding of the debate between Feyerabend and Lakatos, here I present a brief description of the Lakatosian Methodology of Scientific Research Programs (MSRP). (I am grateful to David Geelan for this suggestion). According to Lakatos (1970) the basic unit of appraisal must not be an isolated theory or conjunction of theories but rather a “research program,” with a conventionally accepted “hard core” and with a “positive heuristic” which defines problems, outlines the construction of a “belt of auxiliary hypotheses,” foresees anomalies and turns them victoriously into examples, all according to a preconceived plan. The “negative heuristic” represents the “hard core” of the program, consisting o...

The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this p... more The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.

Evolving Nature of Objectivity in the History of Science and its Implications for Science Education, 2017

Based on a website search with the keyword “objectivity,” 131 articles in the 23 year period (199... more Based on a website search with the keyword “objectivity,” 131 articles in the 23 year period (1992–2014) referred to some form of objectivity and were classified according to the following criteria: Level I, traditional understanding of objectivity as found in science textbooks and positivist philosophers of science; Level II, a simple mention of objectivity as an academic/literary objective; Level III, problematic nature of objectivity is recognized, however, no mention is made of its changing/evolving nature; Level IV, an approximation to the evolving/changing nature of objectivity based on social and cultural aspects; Level V, a detailed historical reconstruction of the evolving nature of objectivity that recognized the role of the scientific community and its implications for science education. Results obtained showed the following distribution of the 131 articles evaluated: Level I = 5, Level II = 56, Level III = 58, Level IV = 10, and Level V = 2. Only 9% (12 out of 131) of the articles were considered to have an understanding of objectivity that approximated to its historical evolution. Four articles referred to the work of Daston and Galison on objectivity and only one mentioned “trained judgment.” One article based on the work of Longino (explanatory plurality) reconciled the objectivity of science with its social and cultural construction (Level IV).

Evolving Nature of Objectivity in the History of Science and its Implications for Science Education, 2017

Based on a website search with the keyword “objectivity,” 131 articles in the 23 year period (199... more Based on a website search with the keyword “objectivity,” 131 articles in the 23 year period (1992–2014) referred to some form of objectivity and were classified according to the following criteria: Level I, traditional understanding of objectivity as found in science textbooks and positivist philosophers of science; Level II, a simple mention of objectivity as an academic/literary objective; Level III, problematic nature of objectivity is recognized, however, no mention is made of its changing/evolving nature; Level IV, an approximation to the evolving/changing nature of objectivity based on social and cultural aspects; Level V, a detailed historical reconstruction of the evolving nature of objectivity that recognized the role of the scientific community and its implications for science education. Results obtained showed the following distribution of the 131 articles evaluated: Level I = 5, Level II = 56, Level III = 58, Level IV = 10, and Level V = 2. Only 9% (12 out of 131) of the articles were considered to have an understanding of objectivity that approximated to its historical evolution. Four articles referred to the work of Daston and Galison on objectivity and only one mentioned “trained judgment.” One article based on the work of Longino (explanatory plurality) reconciled the objectivity of science with its social and cultural construction (Level IV).

Educación Química, 2018

El objetivo de este trabajo es presentar una perspectiva basada en la historia y filosofía de la ... more El objetivo de este trabajo es presentar una perspectiva basada en la historia y filosofía de la ciencia y analizar sus implicaciones para los textos de química general. Análisis de los textos en los diferentes tópicos (estructura atómica, carga eléctrica elemental, teoría cinética, enlace covalente, leyes ponderales y tabla periódica) muestra que la mayoría de los textos no utilizan la historia y la filosofía de la ciencia para facilitar la comprensión conceptual. Casi todos los textos utilizan una estructura del discurso, que Schwab (1962) llamó la retórica de conclusiones y asimismo ignoran los principios heurísticos que facilitaron el desarrollo científico y podrían ayudar a los estudiantes a conceptuar y no memorizar los diferentes tópicos. Se concluye que la presentación de los textos es muy ceñida a la tradición empirista y tie ne poco que ver con la naturaleza de la ciencia que se basa en la búsqueda de los diferentes factores que inciden en la construcción de las teorías ci...

SpringerBriefs in Education, 2016

Encyclopedia of Science Education, 2013

Springer briefs in education, 2016

Feyerabend’s Epistemological Anarchism, 2020

In both philosophy of science and science education, Feyerabend is generally considered to be aga... more In both philosophy of science and science education, Feyerabend is generally considered to be against rationalism, anti-science and for having espoused anything goes. Based on material presented in the previous chapters, here I will attempt to show that this image is erroneous and that on the contrary Feyerabend was presenting a picture of science that represented "how science really works." 8.1 Feyerabend's Hyperbolic Flourishes At the end of his fourth lecture at the Faculty of Sociology, University of Trent, Italy in May 1992 (about 2 years before his death), someone from the audience asked Feyerabend to clarify his position with respect to his controversial thesis of "Anything goes". Feyerabend provided the following scenario: To be situated on a solid Earth is a first and basic experience. However, Anaximander said that the Earth floats in the midst of air. Just think, it is surprising as nothing floats in air. Still, Anaximander insists that the heavy Earth floats in air. According to modern criteria this was certainly anarchism, as it developed and led to something. Thus, "Anything goes only means do not put a limit on your imagination" (Feyerabend, 1999a, p. 157, Spanish edition of the Trent Lectures). In his Killing Time, Feyerabend (1995) clarified that he was not against rationalism per se, but only against those forms that were rigid and pompous. J. Agassi (2014) in his Popper and his popular critics: Thomas Kuhn, Paul Feyerabend and Imre Lakatos, has highlighted the fact that some of Feyerabend's anti-rationalistic and hyperbolic flourishes (e.g., science is not superior to magic) were primarily teasers or challenges to defend diversity, and Feyerabend acknowledged this aspect in his correspondence with Agassi. Ben-Ari (2005) has suggested that Feyerabend's (1975a/1993, p. 14), anything goes, is helpful when it comes to choosing pedagogic methods that will improve

Enseñanza de las Ciencias. Revista de investigación y experiencias didácticas, 1994

The history of science shows that positivism was the dominant philosophy from about the end of th... more The history of science shows that positivism was the dominant philosophy from about the end of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century. The main objective of this article is to present a critique of positivist ideas and show how the new philosophy of science, as represented by Lakatos, has important implications for science education.

Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 2020

Many researchers have suggested that incorporating history and philosophy of science in the scien... more Many researchers have suggested that incorporating history and philosophy of science in the science curriculum can be helpful for students' understanding of scientific concepts and effective for developing their scientific thinking. Recently, in this context, there have been studies on historical controversies which show that history of science promotes debate and controversy and thus sustains students' effort to understand what is being taught. However, existing studies have only searched and selected what the historical controversial issues exist and have not dealt with more practical issues such as how to use them in the classroom. In this study, for finding guide to teach controversial issues in history of science, we analyzed controversial issues related to the structure of the atom to understand their structure by using the 'framework of knowledge and belief'. As a result, it was confirmed that the structures of the historical controversies consisted of various forms from the conceptual level to the belief level. Finally, the implications related to the use of the result of this study in the classroom, and to science education research were discussed.

This article has evaluated the presentation of Rutherford's experiment in 35 university level... more This article has evaluated the presentation of Rutherford's experiment in 35 university level general physics textbooks, within a History and Philosophy of Science context. In general the textbooks ignore the importance of rivalry between two conflicting frameworks, as for example Thomson and Rutherford models of the atom (criterion 1). Very few textbooks mention that the crucial argument in favor of the Rutherford model was not the large angle of deflection of alpha particles but rather the finding that only 1 in 20.000 particles deflected through large angles (criterion 2). Again, the textbooks ignore the controversy with respect to Thomson's hypothesis of compound scattering in contrapositlon to Rutherford's hypothesis of single scattering, in order to explain the large angle deflections of alpha particles (criterion 3). Very few textbooks present the work ofThomson and Rutherford in ahistorical context and lack a History and Philosophy of Science perspective.

In this chapter, I first explore the relationship between transgression and objectivity and then ... more In this chapter, I first explore the relationship between transgression and objectivity and then study the importance of Scanning tunneling microscope (STM) and Atomic force microscope (AFM) for chemical research (nanotechnology) and how these are presented in general chemistry textbooks. In order to understand scientific progress, Roald Hoffmann (2012), Nobel Laureate in chemistry, invokes the idea of “transgression of categorization” and Daston and Galison (2007) refer to it as violating the rules dictated by objectivity. When consulted, Hoffmann confirmed that the two concepts approximate to each other. Furthermore, both understand the transgression of objectivity in the context of Hacking’s (1983) differentiation between “representation” and “intervention.” Nanotechnology is not concerned about errors in our knowledge, nor if we are dealing with real objects but rather with creating and manipulating to construct a new world of atom-sized objects. In this context, it is plausible...

Enseñanza de las Ciencias. Revista de investigación y experiencias didácticas, 2006

This paper tries to look into the field depenleve of students' performance in Piagetians task... more This paper tries to look into the field depenleve of students' performance in Piagetians tasks based on different types of reasoning. The results show that over 50% of introductory courses of Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics and Biology are field dependent.

Feyerabend’s Epistemological Anarchism, 2020

The Journal of Research in Science Teaching (JRST) is the official journal of the US-based Nation... more The Journal of Research in Science Teaching (JRST) is the official journal of the US-based National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST), which has members in many countries around the world. JRST started publishing in 1963 and is indexed in the Social Sciences Citation Index (Thomson-Reuter). In October 2017, I made an online search on the website of JRST with the key words “epistemological anarchism” and “Feyerabend” (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10982736). This gave a total of 21 articles which were evaluated on the same criteria (Levels I–V) as in the previous study (see Chap. 3). Following the guidelines based on Charmaz (2005), presented in Chap. 3, and in order to facilitate credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability (cf. Denzin & Lincoln, 2005) of the results, I adopted the following procedure: a) All the 21 articles from the Journal of Research in Science Teaching, were downloaded and after evaluation were classified in one of the five levels, I–V (for levels see Chap. 3); After a period of approximately three months all the articles were evaluated again and there was agreement of 93% between the first and the second evaluation. It is important to note that all the articles evaluated in this study referred to epistemological anarchism in some context, which may not have been the primary or major subject dealt with by the authors. Detailed examples from different levels are presented in the next section. A complete list of all the 21 articles from JRST that were evaluated is presented in Appendix 3. Distribution of all the articles according to author’s area of research, context of the study and level (classification) is presented in Appendix 4.