The teaching of biological evolution in Mexican socialist textbooks in the 1930s (original) (raw)
Related papers
Journal of the history of biology, 2003
The aim of this work is to evaluate the role played by Alfonso Luis Herrera and Isaac Ochoterena in the institutionalization of academic biology in Mexico in the early 20th century. As biology became institutionalized in Mexico, Herrera's basic approach to biology was displaced by Isaac Ochoterena's professional goals due to the prevailing political conditions at the end of the 1929. The conflict arose from two different conceptions of biology, because Herrera and Ochoterena had different discourses that were incommensurable, not only linguistically speaking, but also socioprofessionally. They had different links to influential groups related to education, having distinct political and socioprofessional interests. The conflict between Herrera and Ochoterena determined the way in which professional biology education has developed in Mexico, as well as the advancement in specific research subjects and the neglect of others.
Isaac Ochoterena (1885-1950), self-made biologist, university professor, military medical school professor, and nationally recognized intellectual, played a significant role in the theoretical development of the biological sciences in Mexico. In 1929, Ochoterena was appointed to be the first director of the National University of Mexico´s Institute of Biology. As an author, Ochoterena wrote more than 230 scientific papers and books, and one of the first Biology textbooks in Mexico (Lecciones de biología, 1922), where he discusses his Lamarckian–Darwinian ideas. This work provides information about how Ochoterena, being the first person in Mexico to know about the ideas of Trofim D. Lysenko (1898-1976) at the end of the 1930´s, and being sympathetic with the socialist ideas of the time, favored the diffusion of what was known as the Proletarian Biology and promoted it through conferences, papers, books and textbooks; and how this impacted for years the approach of biology teaching in Mexican schools. PAPER. The Second International Workshop on Lysenkoism. June, 2012 Marietta Blau Saal. University of Vienna. Austria
The History and Philosophy of Science and their Relationship to the Teaching of Science in Mexico
The 2013 Springer Handbook of Historical and Philosophical Research in Science Teaching (HPS&ST Handbook)
Science is one of the main attributes of the contemporary world, and more than any other human activity, characterizes the current period from previous centuries. Great advances in the field of science and technology deeply influence natural and social processes. There has been a worldwide recognition of the role of science in modern societies, along with an urgent need to move towards more and better scientific education, particularly in developing countries. It becomes fundamental to modify the current education system regarding science and technology in countries like Mexico, where a cornerstone has been the inclusion of the reflections that historical and philosophical studies have produced in the last three decades. This article discusses the importance of recent history and philosophy of science studies for Science education in Mexico. The educational reforms in 1993 and 2006 acknowledge the advances in science teaching in basic education (elementary and junior high schools) as well as the inclusion of history and philosophy of science in official curricula.
Biology Curriculum in Twentieth‐century Spain
One hundred years of history of Spanish biology curricula are reviewed in this article. The aim of this analysis is focused on the relationship between socially controversial biological issues and the decisionmaking procedures in the construction of the national curricula published under the different regimes that have governed Spain over the last 100 years. The study covers the secondary level of schooling (age 10 up to university), and is based mainly on the data afforded by the official publications of the nine national curricula in twentieth-century Spain, and some of the main textbooks used for this schooling level. Special attention is given to the teaching of evolution, the most sensitive issue in biology education, and some parallelisms are traced and compared with similar phenomena occurring in other countries. The new trends in biology education from the last reform of the Spanish education system are briefly discussed. This study provides a perspective of the pressures affecting socially controversial issues included in education. These pressures have been identified mainly as political, social, and religious beliefs held by powerful and influential social groups, the same kinds of forces that have existed in other countries worldwide. Studies such as this one, about the real forces that have shaped curriculum development in the past, are vital for understanding the present circumstances in biology education and, therefore, unavoidable in order to enhance future standards in biology education. (Sci Ed 83: 97–111, 1999.)
In: BUCCHI, M. and TRENCH, B. (eds.) (2012). Quality, Honesty and Beauty in Science and Technology Communication PCST 2012 Book of Papers. Observa Science in Society, Vicenza, 2012, ISBN: 978-88-904514-9-2, pp. 182-185., 2012
Communication of evolutionary theory in Spain is an illuminating example of how science communication changes alongside politics. Besides, it si also an example of how an apparently objective and neutral scientific theory can be used as an ideological tool and haow its communication plays a key role in it.