Table Of ContentA Love of Discovery
Science Education
The Second Career of Robert Karplus
INNOVATIONS IN SCIENCE EDUCATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Series Editor:
Karen C. Cohen, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Are Schools Really Like This?: Factors Affecting Teacher Attitude toward
School Improvement
J. Gary Lilyquist
Education for a Sustainable Future: A Paradigm of Hope for the 21st
Century
Edited by Keith A. Wheeler and Anne Perraca Bijur
The Hidden Curriculum-Faculty-Made Tests in Science
Part 1: Lower-Division Courses
Part 2: Upper-Division Courses
Sheila Tobias and Jacqueline Raphael
Internet Links for Science Education: Student-Scientist Partnerships
Edited by Karen C. Cohen
A Love of Discovery: Science Education: The Second Career of Robert
Karplus
Robert G. Fuller
Place of Science in a World of Values and Facts
Loucas G. Christophorou
Portable Technologies: Science Learning in Context
Edited by Robert F. Tinker and Joseph S. Krajcik
Science, Technology, and Society: A Sourcebook on Research and
Practice
Edited by David D. Kumar and Daryl E. Chubin
Technology, Science Teaching, and Literacy: A Century of Growth
Kenneth P. King
Time for Science Education
Michael R. Matthews
Tutorial Distance Learning: Rebuilding Our Educational System
Alfred Bark and Sigrun Gunnarsdottir
Web-Teaching: A Guide to Designing Interactive Teaching for the World
Wide Web, Second Edition
David W. Brooks, Diane E. Nolan, and Susan M. Gallagher
A Continuation Order Plan is available for this series. A continuation order will bring delivery of
each new volume immediately upon publication. Volumes are billed only upon actual shipment.
For further information please contact the publisher.
A Love of Discovery
Science Education
The Second Career of Robert Karpl us
Edited by
Robert G. Fuller
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln, Nebraska
Kluwer Academic/ Plenum Publishers
New York, Boston, Dordrecht, London, Moscow
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A love of discovery: science education, the second career of Robert Karplus/edited by
Robert C. Fuller.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Science-Study and teaching. 2. Karplus, Robert. I. Karplus, Robert. II. Fuller,
Robert C.
Q181.3 .L68 2001
S07'.1-dc21
2001038776
ISBN 978-0-306-46687-8 ISBN 978-94-007-0876-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-0876-1
©2002 Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York
233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013
http://www.wkap.com
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
A c.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or
otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher
DEDICATION
To the memory of Robert Karplus
Robert Karplus
1927-1990
circa 1970
Preface
Early in the 1990s I was attending a conference in Washington, D.C. The con
ference was sponsored by the National Science Foundation and was directed
at the difficulties in disseminating educational innovations. During that con
ference a videotape of a panel discussion among leading science educators was
shown. One of the panelists was Alan 1. Friedman, whom I had met years
earlier at the Lawrence Hall of Science. During the videotaped discussion
Alan said that the paradigm that he had always had for a scientist and edu
cator was Bob Karplus. I turned to my neighbor and said something like;
"Someone should collect the publications of Bob Karplus so people can read
his work today."
A few years later the notice of the deadline to apply for a faculty devel
opment leave from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln crossed my desk just
after I had spent several hours looking for a copy of the Karplus "seven coun
tries" paper (see it reprinted in Chapter 6). The thought came, Well, why not
me? So I made a phone call to my wife, Margaret, and I decided to apply for
a semester of developmental leave to go to Berkeley to interview people and
put a book together. That was the spring semester of 1999!
My original intent was to collect ALL of the published papers of Robert
Karplus into one volume. I soon discovered that his research papers in physics
alone would make a pretty large volume. Furthermore, his physics papers
were, in general, published in well-known journals, easily accessible to physi
cists. On the other hand, his papers in education appeared in a wide variety
of journals, many of which were not readily available in science libraries.
Hence many of his articles were unknown to many physicists and physics
educators.
vii
viii Preface
As I continued to interview his co-workers during the spring of 1999 it
became increasingly difficult for me to figure out how to organize the publi
cations of Robert Karplus. I was drawn more and more to focus my attention
on his contributions to science education. Finally, near the end of the semes
ter in a telephone conversation with Rita Peterson it clicked in my mind. She
said that she remembered Bob's infectious love of discovery, not just for
himself, but for others as well.
In addition, many of the common ideas used to discuss science educa
tion today were new in the 1960s and 70s and, to me, grew out of the work of
Robert Karplus. Clearly it was time for a collection of his important papers to
be made available to science educators in the 21st century.
So here it is, my collection of some of the important papers of Robert
Karplus as well as a pretty complete list of all his publications in the
Appendix.
This book would not have been possible without the wonderful cooper
ation of all the co-workers of Robert Karplus who freely gave their time and
talents to help me. Thanks to the physics department at the University of
California, Berkeley who gave me visiting scholar status and an office near the
office of Alan Portis. My work in Berkeley in 1999 would not have been as
productive without the help of Alan Portis, Elizabeth Karplus and Margaret
Fuller.
Robert G. Fuller
February, 2001
Contents
CHAPTER I-INTRODUCTION
By Robert G. Fuller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
CHAPTER 2-A LOVE OF DISCOVERY
Introduction by Rita W. Peterson, Univ. Cal. Irvine 7
Karplus: A Scientist Who Shared His Love of Discovery ........ 7
Karplus: A Scientific Approach to Curriculum Development ..... 12
Robert Karplus: A Scientist's Legacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Conclusion ............................................ 19
Karplus, R, 1975, Strategies in Curriculum Development: The
SCIS project, in Strategies for Curriculum Development,
Jon Schaffarzick and David H. Hampton (Eds.),
McCutchan Publishing Corp., Berkeley, CA, 69-88 . . . . . . . . .. 20
CHAPTER 3-EXCITING SCIENCE LESSONS
Introduction by Herbert D. Thier, Lawrence Hall of Science 33
Karplus, R, Thier, H. D., and Powell, C. A., 1963, A Concept of
Matter for the First Grade, Journal of Research in Science
Teaching, 1,315-318 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 37
Karplus, R, 1963, Meet Mr. 0, Science and Children, 3, 19-23 42
ix
x Contents
CHAPTER 4-THE LEARNING CYCLE
Introduction by Anton E. Lawson, Ariz. State Univ. . . . . . . . . . . .. 51
Origins of the Learning Cycle in the SCIS Program ............ 53
Origins of the Learning Cycle in Biology Education . . . . . . . . . . .. 54
Changes in the Names of the Phases of the Learning Cycle ...... 56
The Learning Cycle in the Biological Science Curriculum
Study Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Table 4.1 The BSCS Version of Learning Cycle Instruction:
Teacher's Role . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Table 4.2 The BSCS Version of Learning Cycle Instruction:
Student's Role . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 58
Current Status of the Learning Cycle ....................... 59
Table 4.3 Postulates of Modern Learning Cycle Theory (after
Lawson, 1995) ................................... 60
Karplus, R, 1974, The Learning Cycle, SCIS Teacher's Handbook,
Lawrence Hall of Science, 29-33 .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 63
Karplus, R, 1974, Three Guidelines for Elementary School
Science, SCIS Newsletter No. 20, Lawrence Hall of Science,
Spring,2-3 .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 67
Karplus, R, 1977, Science Teaching and the Development of
Reasoning, Journal of Research in Science Teaching,
14(2),169-175 ...................................... 70
CHAPTER 5-STUDENT AUTONOMY AND TEACHER INPUT
Introduction by 1. Myron Atkin, Stanford Univ. ............... 77
Atkin,1. M., and Karplus, R, 1962, Discovery or Invention?
The Science Teacher, 29(5), 45--47 ....................... 83
Karplus, R, 1981, Response by the Oersted Medalist: Autonomy
and Input, American Journal of Physics, 49(9), 811-814. . . . . .. 90
CHAPTER 6-CENTRAL ROLE OF STUDENTS' REASONING
Introduction by Helen Adi Khoury, Northern Illinois Univ. ...... 97
Control of Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 99
Proportional Reasoning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 100
Contents xi
Probabilistic and Correlational Reasoning 100
Logical Reasoning 101
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Karplus, Eo E, and Karplus, R, 1970, Intellectual Development
Beyond Elementary School I: Deductive Logic, School
Science and Mathematics, 70(5), 398-406 105
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Karplus, R, and Peterson, R W, 1970, Intellectual Development
Beyond Elementary School II: Ratio, A Survey,
School Science and Mathematics, 70(9), 813-820 112
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Karplus, R, and Karplus, Eo E, 1972, Intellectual Development
Beyond Elementary School III-Ratio: A Longitudinal
Study, School Science and Mathematics, 72(8),735-742 119
0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Karplus, Eo E, Karplus, R, and Wollman, W, 1974, Intellectual
Development Beyond Elementary School IV: Ratio,
The Influence of Cognitive Style, School Science and
Mathematics, 74(10), 476-482 126
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Wollman, W, and Karplus, R, 1974, Intellectual Development
Beyond Elementary School V: Using Ratio in Differing
Tasks, School Science and Mathematics, 74(11), 593-613 132
0 0 0 0 0 0
Karplus, R, Karpluso Eo E, Formisano, Mo, and Paulsen, A-C.,
1977, A Survey of Proportional Reasoning and Control
of Variables in Seven Countries, Journal of Research
in Science Teaching, 14(5), 411-417 149
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Adi, Ho, Karplus, R, Lawson, A Eo, and Pulos, So, 1978,
Intellectual Development Beyond Elementary School
VI: Correlational Reasoning, School Science and
Mathematics, 78(8), 675-683 157
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kurtz, B., and Karplus, R, 1979, Intellectual Development Beyond
Elementary School VII: Teaching for Proportional Reasoning,
School Science and Mathematics, 79(5), 387-398 165
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Karplus, R, Adi, Ho, and Lawson, A Eo, 1980, Intellectual
Development Beyond Elementary School VIII:
Proportional, Probabilistic, and Correlational Reasoning,
School Science and Mathematics, 80(8), 673-678 175
00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Adi, Ho, Karplus, R, and Lawson, A Eo, 1980, Conditional
Logic Abilities on the Four-Card Problem: Assessment of
Behavioral and Reasoning Performances, Educational
Studies in Mathematics, 11, 479-496 185
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
