Philosophy of Science and Research in Knowledge Acquisition

Abstract
Ours is a society characterized by science and evidence-based research. We have managed to make use of scientific principles in every aspect of our lives. Especially, in the education sector, the methods of teaching and research have significantly shifted focus to the evidence-based system that requires students to make an observation of facts, internalize the facts, perform experiments and come up with an evidentially proven fact. The shift began in the medical sector where doctors and nurses saw and understood the importance of adopting the evidence-based approach in the treatment and care of patients. The significance of this approach has continually been demonstrated by scientists and other stakeholders leading to the change of mind in other sectors to adopt this methodology. In other words, the role and significance of science in the education system, particularly research practices in the education system, has been a point of focus for many researchers. This focus has seen different authors and studies come up with a number of epistemologies regarding the role and influence of science in the acquisition of knowledge. In this regard, this paper seeks to reflect on the various epistemologies that have been associated with this topic. The reflection shall be based on the significance of the different ideas regarding the acquisition of knowledge and the role of science in the education system and the possibilities of their application with regard to the influence and the shaping of ideas in our society.

Introduction
In the society we live in, education and research practice are considered the basis for knowledge acquisition. Education being the basis of knowledge, most people tends to absorb and stick to the ideas and perceptions that our education systems teach us. This means that the education system and research practice significantly shape the way we perceive phenomena and the society as a whole. In essence, the society already has opinions which are justified by science, nature, social phenomena as well as individual opinions, among others. As such, being that most people are influenced by the society and the general perception the society has, these opinions seems to be the basis of knowledge in our society. However, there have been a few exemptions in our society; people who are intrigued by the opinions of the society and uses them as a foundation to come up with scientific and experiential justifications of already established facts in the society. These people are called scientists. This brings us down to the significance of science in the acquisition of knowledge and how science influences and shapes opinions in our society. According to Ladson-Billings (2000), epistemology is connected closely to the world view. This means that the already established views and opinions in our society have a great influence in the way we view the world as well as our knowledge of the world. In this regard, those who have opinions that differ from the opinions or views of the world possess the very active intellectual capacity and must put in extra intellectual work to possess their opinion. This is so because the systems of acquiring knowledge are intimately linked with the views of the society and are designed to produce individuals that internalize the prevailing world view and production of knowledge as well as the process of knowledge acquisition. As such, one has to work extra hard to use the already established views and opinions to come up with his or her view and opinion.
On the same note, the society has become a host of very many opinions and views regarding a particular phenomenon. It is for this reason that different disciplines have decided to adopt an evidence-based approach in explaining knowledge and opinion. In this approach, one is required to study the facts presented, carry our experiments and make a scientifically or experimentally proven opinion regarding the facts. As noted by Biesta (2007), the evidence-based practice was first developed in the field of medicine to prove medical facts through experiments and scientific research. In this regard, several other disciplines have tried to adopt this method to explain facts and phenomena. As such, the field of education has adopted the system of research practice to provide evidenced and experimentally proven facts. In essence, the current system in the education sector has based the practice of education solely on the opinions and views of the educators leaving no room for research and other conclusions. As Biesta (2007) denotes, the British system was highly criticized by David Hargreaves who described the education practice and education research as practically irrelevant due to its overreliance on the opinions and views of the educators rather than the evidence of scientific research. As such, his suggestion is majorly aligned towards the evidence-based system where he supports scientific research to make the education practice more practically relevant and be able to produce and create individuals who are able to internalize facts, process the facts, carry our research and experiments on the facts and make internally and externally supported assertions.
Similarly, Kuhn (1963) supports the power of knowledge acquired through scientific research. In fact, he claims that in order to gain scientific and evidential knowledge or facts, one has to have an open mind and be objective. One should be able to collect the bare facts, examine them objectively and come up with a conclusion regarding the validity and relevance of the facts in their particular disciplines. In his argument, he sites innovation as an example of objectivity in thinking and absorption of bare facts with an open mind. In essence, scientists are the masters of critical and objective thinking in our society. With the bare facts, they are able to come up with different facts and opinions that are scientifically proven. They are able to observe closely the views and facts of the society and explain to come up with their facts or justifications for the already established facts. This shows us the significance and importance of science as an influencing factor of opinions and knowledge. For instance, Isaac Newton came up with the law of gravity as an explanation of why objects attract each other and what exactly holds the earth while revolving around the sun. In as much as this is a theory, Isaac Newton came up with it after carrying out numerous studies and research together with experiments (Newton, 2014). However, the basis of the research and the idea came from the world views of God and his powers to hold the earth as it revolves around the sun. In essence, science has demonstrated the importance of evidence-based research to explain phenomena in our society which brings us to what influence our opinions in the society.
Lastly, Kincheloe, McLaren & Steinberg (2011) try to explain the relationship between critical theory and pedagogy. In this regard, they recognize the fact that this relationship is hard to establish because of a number of factors. These factors follow that: there are several critical theories; the critical theories are ever evolving and changing with the circumstances in our society, and these critical theories have a propensity of avoiding too much specificity which leaves them vulnerable to criticisms and disagreements. These facts make it hard to establish the relationship between the critical theories and the teaching and education practice. Most importantly, critical theories are based on research and science plays a vital role in the establishment of these theories. However, with the changing circumstance and facts, it is hard to teach the same theories, and facts in schools and the educators need to adapt to the changes by doing their research as often as possible. In this regard, the acquisition of knowledge significantly relies on education research and majorly the experiential research to come up with explained and evidenced facts and opinions.
With these ideas and opinions, it is important to compare and reflect on the daily experiences we have in our society to fully understand the origin and validity of these ideas. Acquisition of knowledge, science, and the education practice are closely interconnected. Also, we have very many theories that aim to explain the different phenomena in or society. As such, the education practice is a vital part of this process since all the world views and ideas around the world are incorporated into the various teaching outlines and syllabuses to show the learners why these opinions exist and the role they play in shaping the society. However, most world views and opinions are not scientifically obtained and proven. In this regard, the philosophy of science and research practice in the education practice is essential in the acquisition of knowledge. This follows that learners as well as individuals in a society should use the world views as the basis of the research and come up with scientifically proven facts rather than the theories that shape our opinions in the day to day life. In essence, people should be able to internalize, examine and objectively apply these views and opinions by adopting an evidence-based system to come up with experientially and evidentially explained facts and opinions. Fundamentally, it is important to analyze the significance of the ideas aforementioned, provide the possibilities of their application as well as personal experiences in this reflection.
Reflection
Generally, we live in a society where opinion and knowledge are significantly shaped by the views of the society. With the influence the society has in how we think and view facts and opinion, our mentality and thinking has been aligned towards these facts, and every aspect of people’s lives rely solely on these facts. In essence, our views and opinions about the various objects in the world today are based on the opinions and views the society has on that particular object. Nonetheless, we have to commend the power of science in our lives and how science has transformed and helped to improve the validity and relevance of facts and knowledge. This transformation means that our acquisition and recognition of knowledge has shifted to evidence-based mechanisms where people want scientific and biological justifications for the facts and opinions. Even so, theoretical observations and phenomena still play an important role in the shaping people’s opinion and how people view and perceive facts in our society. For instance, being a high school science teacher, I often find it hard to explain certain facts using theory and instead rely on scientific proof and justifications to explain and establish my stance on the facts. In essence, explaining to students what certain theories mean, an educator must use scientifically proven facts to effect change in the student’s perspective. This means that science and education are intimately connected, and both rely on each other to effect changed and influence the views and opinions of the society regarding certain facts. A most common phenomenon is the evolution theory by Charles Darwin. This theory goes against the world view of how human being came to exist in this world. In fact, before this theory, the whole society took the biblical approach of explaining this fact. As a teacher, having to explain this theory to students in a bid to change their perception and views becomes very hard because of the influence the Biblical version of human existence has. However, when one refers to the process Darwin used to come up with this theory, one slowly understands why the evolution theory makes sense, and from this point, the opinion of a person starts to change with regard to the existence of human beings.
Essentially, science has taken center stage in effecting change of how people view and perceive the facts in our society. Evidenced by Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, science has come up to explain different phenomena by use of scientific research and experientially proven facts (Darwin, 1987). Most importantly, these theories all form the basis of our education practice, and every student or individual is expected to internalize these theories and facts to form the basis of their knowledge. This follows that the opinions and knowledge of students are significantly influenced by the already established facts leaving no room for further justification of facts. In this regard, it takes an effort to employ an intellectual aspect of a person to go beyond the theories and prove the validity and relevance of the facts as dictated by the society. In fact, people like Charles Darwin were driven by their curiosity and dissatisfaction with what the world has to offer concerning how they explain various phenomena. As such, Darwin decided to put extra intellectual effort on the existence of human being and studied the human genetic makeup to come up with facts that would forever change the opinion and views of the society about the existence of human beings and other species.
Ideally, our opinions are as a result of the already established phenomena in our society which means that the theories of other people and our efforts in the scientific field play a very vital role in shaping our views. Most importantly, we should understand the influence of the philosophy of science and research practices in our contemporary society and how they tend to influence the way we think and perceive other factors in life. My teaching experience has let me witness these facts and how experiments and science as a whole are vital in the acquisition of knowledge. Being a science teacher, my educational practice is based on explaining facts that defy nature and the Bible. With the sense that our views and perceptions are significantly based on what religion and the Bible teach, most scientific research on the same fields tend to disagree with the religious aspects of the phenomena which make it hard as an educator to make the students and the society as a whole appreciate these scientifically proven facts. Regardless, most people are still influenced by scientific research due to lack of proof on the other side and because religious assertions are purely based on the writings of the Bible and the theories present in the Bible. This means that science and research practice is significant in the student’s profession and as a teacher, it is my duty to explain these facts to the students, let them internalize them and let them have the choice to either adopt the scientific facts or the theoretical facts that have for a long time characterized our society. This explains Kincheloe, McLaren & Steinberg’s assertion that establishing a relationship between critical theories and pedagogy is very hard (Kincheloe, McLaren & Steinberg, 2011). This is so based on my experience in explaining the Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. With the Bible supporting the fact that human beings are a pure creation of God and that God created every species in the world, it becomes hard as a high school teacher to explain to the students that the world and human beings came to exist as a result of evolution from apes into the human physical and genetic make-up we possess today. At the first instance, this is confusing because it brings together a whole new concept that students find hard to understand. Having to explain this theory using Darwin’s experiments and scientific research methods is, however, a successful way of establishing the facts. As such, the assertion given by Kincheloe, McLaren & Steinberg (2011) that the relationship between critical theories and pedagogy are hard to establish is a possibility based on my experience as a high school teacher practicing in a society where religion and other relevant aspects of life are the main influencers of views and opinions making it hard to instill science and research in the minds of individual. Nevertheless, the evidence-based approach that the education practice is taking is a very significant step in shaping the perceptions and opinions of people.
Similarly, evidence-based practice is an important aspect in any field. For instance, the American medical care and treatment approach has been recently based on evidence and their system has been one of the best medical and nursing systems in the world. The fact that the field of medicine deals with the health and well-being of patients, the need to prove facts and theories using evidence of experiments and scientific research makes the whole process of nursing care and medical practice a reliable and competent system. Just as asserted by Biesta (2007), this approach should be adopted by the education sector. Ideally, this assertion is possibly true due to the fact that the education sector is the foundation of all knowledge. Even the medical practitioners are a product of the education practice and all theories and opinions in the society are incorporated into the education system and produced to the students. For this reason, adopting an evidence-based approach to explain these theories and opinions gives the students the confidence of reliability and competency when they adopt these scientifically proven facts. In my experience, some students are very curious and require serious evidence and convincing to align themselves and accept certain facts. These students are the ones that often than not employ their intellectual abilities to research and explore these topics and facts to understand their origin and how they relate to the world before adopting the ideas and facts presented in a classroom setting. Also, the fact that our education system is purely based on the knowledge and abilities of the educators, it is important to shift the approach to an evidence-based characterized by research and experiments to establish the validity and relevance of certain opinions and facts present in our society. As such, Biesta’s assertions are entirely possible in our education system and can be significantly helpful in producing, creating and generating individuals that understand how the various facts come to be. In essence, this approach of science and research practice will significantly influence the way we perceive phenomena and the way we view the world.
Also, the approach of objectivity and open-mindedness, as stated by Kuhn (1963), when perceiving and absorbing facts and views is very significant in influencing of knowledge and facts in our society. Ideally, scientific research is a process of applying objectivity and open-mindedness when perceiving facts and knowledge. For instance, most philosophers often apply critical thinking on the various issues and opinions that are well-established in our society and come up with their version and thoughts on the same. One such philosopher that has been widely celebrated by scholars and the society as a whole is Socrates. Socrates did not believe in the idea that the religion and the bible present regarding the afterlife (Nails, 2006). In fact, his critical thinking and the objective approach of absorption of the fact led him to come up with a whole different version of the afterlife and death that has formed the basis of discussion in the various education institutions. Particularly, Socrates claimed he did not fear death as no one knew what was there in the afterlife. To prove this fact, he demonstrated how he did not fear a death penalty that was to be presented to him and left everyone in shock. Come to think of this fact; no one has ever experienced life in the afterlife and all the ideas and opinions we have of the afterlife have all been based on the biblical explanation of the afterlife. Basically, Socrates’ approach was based on the fact that one cannot fear what he has not experienced and experience is what gives people the perception they have and how these perceptions affect the views of the society. In as much as Socrates argument shocked the world and the whole of the education sector, his critical thinking, objectivity and open-mindedness influenced this whole idea, and since then, people’s opinion of the afterlife has significantly changed which means that Socrates ideas have influenced the opinion and views of most people in the society.
Lastly, epistemology, as explained by Ladson-Billings (2000) is also an important part of opinion shaping in our society. Basically, distinguishing opinion from justified beliefs is very important in a society that is characterized and influenced by people’s opinions. In essence, there are so many opinions that one cannot be able to comprehend. As such, distinguishing and differentiating between scientifically proven and research justified facts is important for any individual that wants to subscribe to certain facts and opinions. For instance, in my experience as a teacher, I encounter a number of cases of racial discrimination and molestations in school. One of the most disturbing ideas I have encountered while acting as a reconciliatory figure between the different conflicting groups is based on the ideas that our founding fathers had of blacks. One of these ideas is that blacks and whites are completely different and cannot live together. However, in my years in the science department, no scientific evidence has come forward to support the fact that blacks are genetically of biologically different from the whites and the difference that is there is based on social factors. As such, the opinions and perceptions some white supremacists have that the blacks are genetically different from the whites thus are less of human beings is completely misplaced. To shape this opinion, science plays a very important role by providing facts and biological explanations to dispute any genetic difference between the blacks and the whites which make this opinion unsubstantiated hence invalid.
Conclusion
In conclusion, our opinions and views are affected by a number of factors. As stated by different scholars, science and research are very vital in the education sector because of the importance this sector play in shaping and influencing the perception of people in the society. In fact, all aspects of the life of an individual are based on the opinions and perceptions they acquire in school. For this reason, the evidence-based approach in the acquisition of knowledge in the education sector is vital for the purposes of making valid and informed opinions regarding phenomena in the society.
References
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Darwin, C. (1987). Charles Darwin’s Notebooks, 1836-1844: Geology, Transmutation of Species, Metaphysical Enquiries.
Kincheloe, J., & McLaren, P. S. Steinberg (2011). Critical Pedagogy and Qualitative Research: Moving to the Bricolage. Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research, 4th Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishing.
Kuhn, T. S. (1963). The Function of Dogma in Scientific Research (pp. 347-369). na.
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