We now consider what we see as the implications of the
distinctions between common sense and scientific reasoning
for the learning of science. We have argued that learning
science is not a matter of simply extending young
people's knowledge of phenomena-a practice perhaps
more appropriately called nature study-nor of developing
and organizing young people's commonsense reasoning.
It requires more than challenging learners' prior ideas
through discrepant events. Learning science involves
young people entering into a different way of thinking
about and explaining the natural world; becoming socialized
to a greater or lesser extent into the practices of the scientific
community with its particular purposes, ways of
seeing, and ways of supporting its knowledge claims. Before
this can happen, however, individuals must engage in
a process of personal construction and meaning making.
Characterized in this way, learning science involves both
personal and social processes. On the social plane the
process involves being introduced to the concepts, symbols,
and conventions of the scientific community. Entering
into this community of discourse is not something that students
discover for themselves any more than they would
discover by themselves how to speak Esperanto.