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Public Understanding of Science
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Accounting for explanation in popular science texts—an analysis of popularized accounts of superstring theory

Jon Turney

Penguin Press in Londonjon.turney{at}penguin.co.uk

This paper argues that explanation is central to much science communication and seeks ways of describing explanation through text as it is achieved in popular science writing. It is suggested that a framework elaborated by Ogborn et al. (1996) for analyzing the explanatory performance of science teachers in the classroom may be adapted for analysis of popular texts. The suggestion is elaborated through an extended case study of popular works on superstring theory, notably Brian Greene’s The Elegant Universe (2000). It is concluded that Ogborn’s scheme is useful, but the demands of this theory expose some of the limitations of the framework, and perhaps of textual— that is, non-mathematical—explanation in general.

Public Understanding of Science, Vol. 13, No. 4, 331-346 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/0963662504044909
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R. Edford
The elegance of The Elegant Universe: unity, beauty, and harmony in Brian Greene's popularization of superstring theory
Public Understanding of Science, October 1, 2007; 16(4): 441 - 454.
[Abstract] [PDF]