Some assumptions about biology are so deeply rooted in our thinking that they seem beyond question. These concepts - expressed in playful jargon - are our sacred bovines. With a light-hearted spirit, Douglas Allchin sets out to challenge many of these common beliefs about science and life. Allchin draws on fascinating insights from science to illustrate the ironies in many widespread beliefs.Be prepared to challenge the notion that
male and female are fixed natural categories. Or that evolution implies cutthroat competition in human society. Or that we struggle against a fundamental immoral nature. Or that genes establish our identity. Or
that science progresses through rare leaps of genius. Or that politics and emotions inevitably taint good science. Sacred Bovines revels in revelations about the nature of science.Reflecting on the many errors in commonly accepted, everyday ideas also fosters creative thinking. How do we challenge assumptions? How do we "think outside the box"? The many examples here provide inspiration and guidance, further elaborated in a retrospective epilogue. An additional "Afterword
for Teachers" highlights how the essays can foster learning about the nature of science and describes some practical classroom strategies.
Some assumptions about biology are so deeply rooted in our thinking that they seem beyond question. These concepts - expressed in playful jargon - are our sacred bovines. With a light-hearted spirit, Douglas Allchin sets out to challenge many of these common beliefs about science and life. Allchin draws on fascinating insights from science to illustrate the ironies in many widespread beliefs.Be prepared to challenge the notion that
male and female are fixed natural categories. Or that evolution implies cutthroat competition in human society. Or that we struggle against a fundamental immoral nature. Or that genes establish our identity. Or
that science progresses through rare leaps of genius. Or that politics and emotions inevitably taint good science. Sacred Bovines revels in revelations about the nature of science.Reflecting on the many errors in commonly accepted, everyday ideas also fosters creative thinking. How do we challenge assumptions? How do we "think outside the box"? The many examples here provide inspiration and guidance, further elaborated in a retrospective epilogue. An additional "Afterword
for Teachers" highlights how the essays can foster learning about the nature of science and describes some practical classroom strategies.
Prologue: The Ironies of Misplaced Assumptions
The Way of Science
1 Monsters and Marvels
2 The Messy Story Behind the Most Beautiful Experiment in
Biology
3 Ahead of the Curve
4 Marxism and Cell Biology
5 The Dogma of "the" Scientific Method
Darwin, Evolution & Society
6 Was Darwin a Social Darwinist?
7 Social Un-Darwinism
8 A More Fitting Analogy
9 The Domesticated Gene
Making Mistakes
10 A Comedy of Scientific Errors
11 Nobel Ideals and Noble Errors
12 Celebrating Darwin's Errors
What Counts as Science
13 Science Beyond Scientists
14 Skepticism and the Architecture of Trust
15 Science Con-Artists
Naturalizing Cultural Values
16 Male, Female, and/or -?
17 Monsters and the Tyranny of Normality
18 To Be Human
19 Genes R Us
20 The Peppered Moths, A Study in Black and White
Myth-conceptions
21 Alexander Fleming's "Eureka" Moment
22 Round vs. Wrinkled: Gregor Mendel as Icon
23 William Harvey and Capillaries
24 The Tragic Hero of Childbed Fever
Values & Biology Education
25 Respect for Life
26 Hands-Off Dissection?
27 Organisms, Modified, Genetically
28 Close to Nature
Epilogue: Challenging Our Sacred Bovines
Afterword for Educators
Notes
References
Acknowledgments
Image Credits
Index
Douglass Allchin is is a historian and philosopher of science and
science educator. He holds a PhD in "Conceptual Foundations of
Science" from the University of Chicago. He has taught at the
University of Minnesota since 2001. Allchin has published
extensively on history of science, philosophy of science and
science education. His research focuses primarily on error and
disagrement in science. He also edits the SHiPS Resource Center, a
website for helping teachers
teach about the nature of science.
"Sacred Bovines is a wonderful collection of essays, most of which
have been adapted from a column that Allchin has been writing over
the years for The American Biology Teacher... these essays with
their varied topics and engaging style deserve a wide readership.
There is much to ponder for anyone who is curious about biology and
the nature of science." -- Sherrie Lyons, Science & Education
Journal
"This volume, by the historian and philosopher of science Douglas
Allchin, was a pleasure to read. It is the kind of book that one
picks up, reads a few chapters, chuckles a little, and then puts
down for a few weeks until a happenstance gaze rekindles interest
against one's more pressing obligations." -- Daniel R. Deen, The
Quarterly Review of Biology
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