Peter Heering Libri

The first European Regional IHPST Conference was co-organised by the Sectionof physics, its didactics and its history at the Europa-Universität Flensburg (Germany)and the Laboratorium for Sammenhængende Uddannelse og Læring at the Syddansk Universitet Odense (Denmark). This conference was certainly what can be called a European enterprise, and this is also reflected by its theme: Science as Culture in theEuropean Context: Historical, Philosophical, and Educational Perspectives. More than 80 participants met in August 2016 at the Europa-Universität Flensburg. This volume contains some of the contributions that were submitted for publications. The papers in this volume show the broadness of the conference, there are contributions on the history of science, its application in education as well as case studies on using cultural approaches in science education and non-formal educational approaches. Thus, this volume reflects the broadness of both the conference theme as well as the IHPST community.

„Learning by Doing“ is about the history of experimentation in science education. The teaching of science through experiments and observation is essential to the natural sciences and its pedagogy. These have been conducted as both demonstration or as student exercises. The experimental method is seen as giving the student vital competence, skills and experiences, both at the school and at the university level. This volume addresses the historical development of experiments in science education, which has been largely neglected so far. The contributors of „Learning by Doing“ pay attention to various aspects ranging from economic aspects of instrument making for science teaching, to the political meanings of experimental science education from the 17th to the 20th century. This collected volume opens the field for further debate by emphasizing the importance of experiments for both, historians of science and science educators.

This volume includes a selection of contributions to the 6th International Conference for the History of Science in Science Education held at the Carl-von-Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg in July 2006. The conference was devoted to discussing the function of historical contexts in science education. Some of the papers in this collection discuss this issue from a theoretical point of view, others describe practical teaching experiences; they cover examples from the ? elds of astronomy, biology, mathematics, and physics. Bringing them together should make manifest the potential of using historical contexts in science education, in particular in teaching not only science but also the nature of science.

Der Autor diskutiert die Ende des 18./Anfang des 19. Jahrhunderts erfolgte Bestimmung der elektrostatischen Grundgesetze. Der Schwerpunkt liegt auf den damals entstandenen experimentellen Arbeiten sowie deren Einordnung in den jeweiligen Kontext.