How science is built by human endeavour: A taxonomic example

The Australian Curriculum Science has "Patterns, Order and Organisation" as one of its six Key Ideas. In the biological sciences, the structural patterns revealed by observing living things are used to order and organise them in a hierarchical system of binomial nomenclature, in which livi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Teaching science (Deakin West, A.C.T.) A.C.T.), 2024-06, Vol.70 (2), p.18-29
Main Author: Rennie, Leonie
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biology
Crassostrea
Curricula
Geography
History
Identification and classification
Indigenous peoples
Interdisciplinary approach in education
Learning
Methods
Morphology
Names
Oysters
Phenetics
Philosophy
Psychology
Science
Science education
Social conditions
Species
Study and teaching
Taxonomy
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Summary:The Australian Curriculum Science has "Patterns, Order and Organisation" as one of its six Key Ideas. In the biological sciences, the structural patterns revealed by observing living things are used to order and organise them in a hierarchical system of binomial nomenclature, in which living things have a generic name and a specific name, based on their morphological features. Each organism, thus described, will have its own unique name. But how does it get that name, and what happens when reputable sources have different names? This article demonstrates how science deals systematically with such disagreements by documenting a taxonomic journey into the naming of one particular zoological species, the Shark Bay pearl oyster. This scientific journey intertwines science with history and geography, as well as social, cultural, and political perspectives. It is truly a story of science as human endeavour.
ISSN:1449-6313
1839-2946