This traditional image of science has been explored in a large number of commentaries; see, for example, Chalmers (1976), Nadeau and Desautels (1984).
Teaching based on this traditional view of science attempts to transmit to learners concepts which are precise and unambiguous, using language capable of transferring ideas from expert to novice (teacher to student) with precision. Textbooks are sources of facts and theories about the concrete world, exemplified by the following extract from a textbook about teaching science in the primary school, Jacobson and Bergman (1980):
'Electrical energy can be converted into other forms of energy. As we have seen electrical energy can be transferred -considerable distances along conductors. Another great advantage of electrical energy is that it can be readily converted into other forms of energy.' (p. 44)
The expectation is that teachers read this material, come to the same understandings as the authors, and then transmit the concepts to their students. The students who learn these statements come to know about electrical energy. There are a number of problems here.
• Study of the ideas students bring to lessons about energy reveals a variety of person-centred views related to 'needing energy to do things', 'needing food as a source of energy', and 'switching off appliances to save energy'. The textbook quote ignores these alternative conceptions, treating energy as a secure and certain idea in a manner which encourages rote learning of phrases with no connection to the learner.
• Energy is a very difficult and complex idea invented by scientists. Arguments about the appropriate way to understand and to teach energy continue in education journals (see the debate between Warren, Schmidt, Lehrman, Hicks, Richmond and others in Education in Physics and Physics Teacher in the early 1980s). The textbook quote above treats this area as if there were no difficulty in the concept. Many students can feel that their inability to 'see' the world in the same way as the textbook writer means that they are somehow 'blind' or not seeing the world through the same spectacles.