Introducing people knowledge into science learning

A weakness inherent in science education has been (and remains) its emphasis principally on the teaching of scientific knowledge, i.e. knowledge of the object (or the observed). Little attention has been directed to the teaching of people knowledge about scientists, i.e. knowledge of the subject (or the observer) who creates knowledge. This study explores the nature of this people knowledge and its possible effects on science learning. There are two types of people knowledge identified through this study: breadth-oriented people knowledge (BPK) and depth-oriented people knowledge (DPK). BPK profiles scientists’ scientific achievements across life whereas DPK describes scientists’ intellectual struggle in relation to their theory building. The findings indicate that the two types of people knowledge are fundamentally different in nature and it is only DPK that is beneficial to science learning (e.g., deepening students’ understanding of scientific theories and making science learning environments more humanly interesting).