Los profesores de ciencias como profesores de lenguaje

Abstract

As a contribution to discussions about science education policy, I explore in this presentation a rationale for science teach­ing, teacher training and research which emphasises the role of language as an interpretive tool in strange situations. My approach is drawn from history of science and from studies of the structure of scientific argument which show that when any area of scientific thought is new, the interpretive role of language is central. New ways of «seeing» what is going on are closely connected with new ways of talking about it and with newly preferred procedures for investigation. Hence, if learners are to understand «what scientists do», they need focus on the language as well as the experiment. In that way they can develop competence to speak about a scientific topic, when the imagery, speech and method all hang together. Teachers can be thought of as guides who help the pupils to explore these sub­languages of particular topics, which scientists have developed and which now permeate our culture.