The FUNCTIONS OF THE SCIENCE TEXTBOOK IN THE STRUCTURE OF SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTIONS

Abstract

The aim of this article is to seek to verify the various functions of the scientific literature, especially the use of the textbook in the teaching and learning of Science as supported by the Structure Of Scientific Revolution. Thomas S. Kuhn makes several observations about the use and functions of the textbook in the famous work. The objective is to group and sumarize his positon on the subject. It is intended to accomplish something similar to Margaret Masterman's famous text in “The nature of a paradigm” when he found twenty-one definitions of paradigm, our goal is to number and describe the sixteen manual functions found in the text Subsequently, Harvey Siegel’s criticism of the kuhnian position on this thema is analyzed in “Kuhn and Schwab on Science Texts and the Goals of Science Education” and Rationality Reddemed? Further Dailogues on an Education Ideal.. Siegel does not agree with kuhn’s position and to refute it he uses the studies of the educator Joseph J. Scwab, The Teaching of Science as Enquiry, whose studies focused on the articulation of the Philosophy of Education, Science and Curriculum.