"Unfortunately, the amount of science Content derived from the investigations is negligible. This is the opinion of the author and is the general consensus of TSM teachers with whom the author has conferred. There is a growing concern among science educators that process is being overly stressed."

The unusal format of TSM probably helps students are encouraged to seek information through direct observation of natural phenomena. The content of the course is outlined in a series of teacher folios which accompany each of the investigations. Individual booklets from the Science Reading Series may contain information on such topics as volcanoes or meteorite craters, but more often they present historically important interpretations of phenomena with which students may be concerned. In an earlier article, it was made clear at these booklets do not fill the role of a text:

"Considerable emphasis is placed in this Course upon the manner in which the student himself is able to develop a convincing argument. He is given the opportunity to develop his position, but it is also important that he be constantly stimulated by the ideas of others. The Science Reading Series serves this purpose."

Definitions of the "processes of science," as found in the current - educational literature, have become elaborate and inflexible. TSM illustrates a position closer to that stated intuitively by Jerome Bruner:

"There is nothing more central to a discipline than its way of thinking. There is nothing more important in its teaching than to provide the child the earliest possible opportunity to learn that way of thinking the forms of connection, the attitudes, hopes, jokes and frustrations that go with it."

Time, Space and Matter ==== edit The process which is emphasized in the first section is unlike any to be found in a standard lexicon of terms. Students are encouraged to speculate widely about the nature of the physical world. Particular topics which are raised include the motion of objects in the heavens, the nature of the surfaces of the earth and moon, and the origin of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River. This is a time for raising questions which will be the focus for future work during the course of the year, and for establishing a mood of inquiry.

Investigation 3 introduces science as an organized activity by an exercise in observation which involves a bit of "hocus-pocus" on the part of the teacher with ice cubes in glasses of alcohol and water, Roth's comment on this activity is critical to his argument:

'On the other hand, when an investigation is centered around a tumbler of water it becomes meaningless. Certainly the differences between observation and interpretation ( or inference )a--- remember your inference experiences - mystery boxes; tracks in snow; think tube --- are illustrated. However, could this not have been done equally as well, when centered around events in the physical world which are more meaningful and perhaps more interesting to the students ?"

This particular activity has been one of the more popular originate with TSM, and its rationale is nicely stated in a book by Romey:

"One of the best ways to stimulate interest is to offend the student's intuition ( that means -- screw them up in the head and make them take notice ) in some way or to confront him with a situation that is not readily acceptable. Then the student must be asked to find his way out of the intellectual maze that has been set up for him."

Unfortunately, many science educators see this activity as isolated and unrelated to the content of TSM. Teachers who have experienced it out of context find it difficult to know what to do after the ice cube." After describing the general character of the curriculum in more detail, I would like to return to this exercise and explain how this particular thread of content is developed through the rest of the course.

Through investigation 6, a number of more traditional processes are elaborated --- Measurement and mathematical skills -- . A qualitative change takes place at the beginning of investigation 7, when students are asked to determine the origin and age of the Grand Canyon. Each of the following Investigations focuses on a separate problem: Investigation 8 is devoted to the nature and history of the surface of the moon; in Investigation 9 students measure the size and distance of the sun and moon, debate the merits of heliocentric and geocentric models of the solar system, and reconsider the nature of celestial motion. Insofar as it is possible to characterize such a process simply, these latter 'investigations are concerned with the formulation and testing of hypotheses.

There is some confusion about the nature of the "content" of science. Roth's meaning is clear from his statement that "Students are also exposed to content such as the terms waxing gibbous, eclipse - and terminator. " This is not the content of Time. Space and Matter, and concentration on terminology of this sort is systematically discouraged.

Another standard definition of content, apparently held by many educators, can be illustrated by example. There is a device, an elaborate chain-driven model of the solar system showing the moon orbiting the earth and both orbiting the sun, which can be found in most schools. It is usually assumed that turning the crank which drives this machine is an act of teaching one of the facts of science. The truth is that what is being taught is an idea for which there was no experimental verification until early in this century, and which is still not widely accepted in Islamic universities.

If one observes the moon, ---- over a period of time, a number of unequivocal statements can be made: === edit === Such statements may seem trivial, but an amazingly large number of adults are completely unaware of such simple phenomena. These -- facts or "content" of science, and have remained essentially unchallenged for the last 2,000 years.

The essence of science does not lie in such statements, although they are essential to its orderly progress. J. B. Conant provides us with an eloquent description of the real nature of science:

"Science is an interconnected series of concepts and conceptual schemes that have developed as a result of experimentation and observation and are fruitful of further experimentation and observations. In this definition, the emphasis is on the word 'fruitful.' Science Is a speculative enterprise. The validity of a new idea and the significance of a new experimental finding are to be measured by the consequencesconsequences in terms of other ideas and other experiments. Thus conceived, science is not a quest for certainty; it is rather a quest which is successful only to the degree that it is continuous."

The focus of TSM is on the conflict of ideas in science. Examples concepts which are debated in the program include: earth versus un- centered models of the solar system; meteoritic versus volcanic origins for terrestrial craters; catastrophist versus unilormitarianist explanations for the origin of the earth's surface features; and conflicting models for the, history of the lunar surface.

=== edit === . Such an approach is consistent with he position taken by David Hawkins:

'The subject matter of science is not, except in a derivative sense, to be found in book The subject matter of 'the liquid state of matter' is the liquid state of matter. and we had better sometimes have some of it in the classroom The subject matter of atoms is a puzzle. There are plenty of them, of course, in every classroom, but there must be a long course of evolution, and much penetration of experience into the subsoil of the mind, before the world of atoms will prove to be fresh and absorbing subject matter."

The content of Time, Space and Matter, === edit === Almost other content is arranged in this same spiral fashion, with a topic such as the ice-water system being reconsidered on a number of occasions, each time from a different vantage point.

After its introduction at the beginning of Investigation 3, this system :

used to elaborate two separate themes.

The first concerns the utility and limitations of analogs, or models, in science; the specific case is icebergs and the sinking of the Titanic. === edit === The second topic is instrumentation: students are given unmarked thermometers with which to measure temperature. Teaching TSM is fun, and many TSM teachers view this particular activity as the 'high-point of the course.

The richness of observations and questions raised during this early -- examination of an ice cube in a glass of water has proven embarrassing.

After a lecture on the properties and phases of water by the resident geochemist, the staff of the developmental group began referring to this as an apparenly simple system. We have as yet been unable, even with the assistance of members of the physics faculty, to explain why the ice cube always floats to the edge of the container and clings there. === edit ===== and more water studies occur in Investigation 5-6 === edit Investigation 7 is addressed to the role of a variety of geologic agents in forming the earth's surface features. The role of water in chemical and physical weathering, hydraulic action and abrasion assumes major importance. ==== edit ==== Because the theme reappears so often and in so many different contexts, it emphasizes particularly well the interdisciplinary nature of science as portrayed in TSM.

George Pallrand, who directed the program through much of its development, recognizes the roots of the discontent described by Roth:

"A program that does not emphasize answers but encourages students to raise questions is obviously in trouble in some schools. Many teachers are anxious to transmit 'accepted' knowledge efficiently to the student and in so doing frequently perpetuate the myth and dogma of science."