Reworking Recipes and Experiments in the Classroom

Abstract

This chapter addresses the potential of reworking experiments or recipes in educational settings. We reflect on educational practice in several university settings, which span the Liberal Arts and Science Program in Utrecht and a course for historians of science and technology at Johns Hopkins University to physics teacher education at the Europa-Universität Flensburg. The classroom use of RRR methods serves to teach the exploratory nature of science, and focuses the attention of students on materials and the sensory dimensions of experiments. Together, the three cases argue that the use of RRR methods in the classroom allows teachers to engage students in new ways, and offers students the opportunity to participate more meaningfully in research into the history of science.