Darwinism in Context: An interdisciplinary, highly contextualized course on nature of science

SummaryIn this article, we describe a course, titled Darwinism in Context, which focuses on the social, cultural and scientific influences on the development of Darwin's theory. This was an interdisciplinary, highly contextualized nature of science course that aimed to help students learn about a core nature of science aspect: that there are historical, cultural and social influences on the practice and directions of science. For this purpose, the course was based on a well-documented historical case study: the development of Darwin's theory. The course consisted of five classes that focused on: (a) Victorian society, (b) the views and beliefs of scholars that had an impact on Darwin's thinking (historical influences), (c) aspects of Darwin's personal and social life that influenced the publication of his theory (social influences), (d) the reception of Darwin's theory and the relationship between religion and science (cultural influences) and (e) the relationship between science and literature. In all cases, teaching included presentations of the historical events but was mostly based on the analysis and discussion of excerpts from the respective original writings. During the classes only a few examples were presented; students were motivated to study further the original writings and identify some key concepts and ideas after the classes. It is concluded that this kind of highly contextualized nature of science instruction can provide students with a more authentic view of science.