Ambiguous, circular and polysemous: Students' definitions of the "balance of nature" metaphor

Public Understanding of Science

Volumn 16, Issue 4, 2007, Pages 393-406

  Zimmerman, Corinne ^a   Cuddington, Kim ^b  

^a ILLINOIS STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b OHIO UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 34748831675     PISSN: 09636625     EISSN: 13616609     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0963662505063022     Document Type: Article

References (28)

1. Boyd, R. (1993) " Metaphor and Theory Change: What is 'Metaphor' a Metaphor For ?,'" in A. Ortony (ed.) Metaphor and Thought, pp. 381 - 532. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2. Cicero (1938) De natura deorum, trans. H. Rackham. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
3. Cooper, G. (2001) " Must There Be a Balance of Nature ?," Biology and Philosophy 16: 481 - 506.
4. Cuddington, K. (2001) " The 'Balance of Nature' Metaphor and Equilibrium in Population Ecology, " Biology and Philosophy 16: 463 - 79.
5. Derrida, J. (1978) Writing and Difference, trans. A. Bass. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
6. Eden, S. (1996) " Public Participation in Environmental Policy, " Public Understanding of Science 5: 183 - 204.
7. Egerton, F.N. (1973) " Changing Concepts of the Balance of Nature, " Quarterly Review of Biology 48: 322 - 50.
8. Forbes, S.A. (1887) " The Lake as a Microcosm, " Bulletin of the Peoria Scientific Associations pp. 77 - 87.
9. Reprinted in Bulletin of the Illinois State Natural History Survey (1925) 15: 537 - 50.
10. Grotzer, T.A. and Basca, B.B. (2003) " How Does Grasping the Underlying Causal Structures of Ecosystems Impact Students' Understanding?, " Journal of Biological Education 38: 1 - 14.
11. Groves, F.H. and Pugh, A.F. (2002) " Cognitive Illusions as Hindrances to Learning Complex Environmental Issues, " Journal of Science Education and Technology 11: 381 - 90.
12. Hastings, A., Hom, C., Ellner, S., Turchin, P. and Godfray, H.C.J. (1993) " Chaos in Ecology: Is Mother Nature a Strange Attractor?, " Annual Reviews of Ecology and Systematics 24: 1 - 33.
13. Hogan, K. (2002) " Small Groups' Ecological Reasoning while Making an Environmental Management Decision, " Journal of Research in Science Teaching 39: 341 - 68.
14. Kingsland, S.E. (1985) Modelling Nature: Episodes in the History of Population Ecology. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
15. McCloskey, M. (1983) " Naive Theories of Motion, " in D. Gentner and A.L. Stevens (eds) Mental Models, pp. 299 - 324. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
16. Miller, J.L. and Bartsch, K. (1997) " The Development of Biological Explanation: Are Children Vitalists ?," Developmental Psychology 33: 156 - 64.
17. Orne, M.T. (1962) " On the Social Psychology of the Psychological Experiment: With Particular Reference to Demand Characteristics and their Implications, " American Psychologist 17: 776 - 83.
18. Piaget, J. (1951) The Child's Conception of the World. Savage, MD: Littlefield Adams.
19. Pickett, S.T.A., Kolasa, J. and Jones, C.G. (1994) Ecological Understanding: The Nature of Theory and the Theory of Nature. New York: Academic Press.
20. Pimm, S.L. (1991) Balance of Nature? Ecological Issues in the Conservation of Species and Communities. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
21. Scott, M. (1995) The Young Oxford Book of Ecology. New York: Oxford University Press.
22. Smith, C.P. (2000) " Content Analysis and Narrative Analysis, " in H.T. Reis and C.M. Judd (eds) Handbook of Research Methods in Social and Personality Psychology, pp. 313 - 35. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
23. Smith, E.L. and Anderson, C.W. (1986) " Alternative Student Conceptions of Matter Cycling in Ecosystems, " Paper presented to the Annual Meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, San Francisco.
24. Stringham, T.K., Krueger, W.C. and Thomas, D.R. (2001) " Application of Non-equilibrium Ecology to Rangeland Riparian Zones, " Journal of Range Management 54: 210 - 17.
25. Tamir, P. and Zohar, A. (1991) " Anthropomorphism and Teleology in Reasoning about Biological Phenomena, " Science Education 22: 57 - 67.
26. Tytler, R., Duggan, S. and Gott, R. (2001) " Public Participation in an Environmental Dispute: Implications for Science Education, " Public Understanding of Science 10: 343 - 64.
27. Wood-Robinson, C. (1995) " Children's Biological Ideas: Knowledge about Ecology, Inheritance, and Evolution, " in S.M. Glynn and R. Duit (eds) Learning Science in the Schools: Research Reforming Practice, pp. 111 - 30. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
28. Wu, J. and Loucks, O.L. (1995) " From Balance of Nature to Hierarchical Patch Dynamics: A Paradigm Shift in Ecology, " Quarterly Review of Biology 70: 439 - 66.