• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.253-264
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to examine the practice of scientists from the perspective of Ian Hacking's 'creation of phenomena'. Scientific phenomena, according to Hacking, are regular and do not exist in nature without the intervention of scientists or experimental tools. This study tries to derive scientific educational meaning by analyzing the thoughts and episodes of the 'Sontanda (inter-individual variability)' phenomenon experienced by four life scientists. The Sontanda phenomenon is a common term used by scientists to describe phenomena in which findings do not appear consistently even when studies are carried out using the same experimental procedure and materials. The following four educational implications were discovered as a result of the research. First, we confirmed the importance of embodied knowledge, or non-verbal knowledge, which solves issues by making appropriate judgments and reactions at all times, rather than simply becoming accustomed to the experimental method. This argues that propositional knowledge and non-verbal knowledge should be handled equally in order to provide students with a practical scientific inquiry. Second, we tried to reconsider the picture of the experiment. The phenomenon revealed in the interviews of scientists is rare, and it takes a long time to stabilize the phenomenon. On the other hand, the image of school experiments is always positive and consistent, necessitating a shift in perspective. Third, the precise meaning of scientific practice could be confirmed. This study confirms that scientists use their knowledge effectively in line with the circumstances, and we examined strategies to apply scientific practice to school instruction based on this. Finally, by provoking uncertainty, the Sontanda phenomena may give students with an opportunity to engage in meaningful scientific involvement. By breaking away from the cookbook experiment, this study expects school experimental education to help in efforts to experience scientific practice.