Scientific Reasoning Process of Blood Circulation Research Based on Giere s Theoretical Hypotheses Evaluation Program

Although science knowledge is variable and theoretically dependent, middle school students have a view that the concept of scientific knowledge is not clear and even scientific knowledge is absolute. As we hypothesize to explain the natural phenomena accurately and logically verify the hypothesis, science has a clear and rational system. In science education, a program is needed to verify scientific knowledge by evaluating hypotheses. Giere developed a program to evaluate these theoretical hypotheses. The purpose of this study is to understand the characteristics of science knowledge through the history of science related to the contents of science curriculum of middle school students. It is also possible to recognize that scientific knowledge is formed through rational verification methods by evaluating hypotheses. This study applied the history of research on heart and blood to Giere s hypothesis evaluation program and confirmed that this analysis is useful for presenting and evaluating correct hypotheses. Therefore, we propose to introduce these hypothesis evaluation programs into science education so that students can present hypotheses in an appropriate way and make inferences from the scientific process.