New Perspectives in Science Education

“The Complementary Structure of Deoxyribonucleic Acid” – Adapting the Crick and Watson Paper for Science Education

Hilko Aljets, Georg-August-University Göttingen (Germany)

Florian Heisig, Georg-August University Göttingen (Germany)

Thomas Waitz, Georg-August-University Göttingen (Germany)

Abstract

It has been 70 years since the molecular structure of the DNA molecule has been decoded, which can be described as one of the most important scientific achievements of the last century. In 1953, Watson and Crick reported their double helix model in Nature [1], after Pauling and Corey had proposed a flawed three-stranded model [2]. Later they gave a detailed description of the building of the model in following article [3]. Using this article in science education offers a wide range of valuable learning opportunities. In addition to the actual content of the highly interdisciplinary research, it allows students to learn about scientific model building and the use of research models [4], as well as the development of scientific knowledge and nature of science [5]. It can also be used as an example for a discussion on social influences on science, sexism in science and good scientific practice [6, 7]. Due to the complexity of the original article, we propose to adapt the text so that it is also understandable for students. In this contribution, we report on our adaptation and its adaptation process, which is based on the concept of adapted scientific literature [8], and suggest measures to unlock the potential described.

Keywords

adapted scientific literature, adapted primary literature, scientific literature, reading, DNA, historical article

References

Watson, J. D., & Crick, F. H. C. (1953). Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid. Nature, 171(4356), 737–738. https://doi.org/10.1038/171737a0
Pauling, L., & Corey, R. B. (1953). A Proposed Structure For The Nucleic Acids. PNAS, 39(2), 84–97. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.39.2.84
Crick, F. H. C., & Watson, J. D. (1954). The complementary structure of deoxyribonucleic acid. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A, 223(1152), 80–96. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.1954.0101
Upmeier zu Belzen, A., van Driel, J., & Krüger, D. (2019). Introducing a Framework for Modeling Competence. In A. Upmeier zu Belzen, D. Krüger, & J. van Driel (Eds.), Towards a Competence-Based View on Models and Modeling in Science Education (pp. 3–19). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30255-9_1
Lederman, N. G., Abd-El-Khalick, F., Bell, R. L., & Schwartz, R. S. (2002). Views of Nature of Science Questionnaire: Toward Valid and Meaningful Assessment of Learners’ Conceptions of Nature of Science. J Res Sci Teach., 39(6), 497–521. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.10034
Esquerra, T. (2012). Exploration of Common Law Fraud in Scientific Discovery: The Case of James Watson, Francis Crick, and Rosalind Franklin. Landslide, 4(4), 34–40.
Schindler, S. (2008). Model, Theory, and Evidence in the Discovery of the DNA Structure. Brit. J. Phil. Sci., 59(4), 619–658. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjps/axn030
Aljets, H., & Waitz, T. (2023). About the Potential of Adapted Scientific Literature for Science Education. In Pixel (Ed.), New Perspectives in Science Education—Conference Proceedings. 12th Conference Edition (pp. 216–219). Filodiritto Editore.

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