I have been following this thread with interest since I too have been
critical of constructivism in science education. I had not heard of
much about the work of Cromer and am therefore grateful for having my
attention drawn to his book.

My contribution has been an article in Journal of Chemical
Education, 2003, vol 80. p. 468- .

For those with an Internet subscription to the journal the link is

http://search.jce.divched.org/JCEIndex/FMPro?-db=jceindex.fp5&-
lay=wwwform&authors=Scerri&-find=&-format=detail.html&-skip=3&-max=1&-
token.2=3&-token.3=25

Here I was primarily addressing my remarks at chemical
constructivists and especially the work of Dudley Herron.
For several years there was little response, at least not from the
main protagonists. Finally, Herron has responded briefly in the same
journal in the January, 2008 issue.

http://www.jce.divched.org/Journal/Issues/2008/Jan/abs24.html

Not surprisingly, I am not entirely convinced by what he writes and
am preparing a response.

In addition, I edited a special issue of Foundations of Chemistry
which was devoted to Chemical Constructivism which may be of interest
and which included a paper by our own Keith Taber. This is the
July, 2006 issue of Foundations of Chemistry.

For access to this issue please go to,

http://www.springerlink.com/content/g372t33jm067/?
p=1dfa7a4cf5a746fe9b487574de75572d&pi=4


regards,
eric scerri
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
The Periodic Table: Its Story and Its Significance, by Eric Scerri,
Oxford University Press, 2007.

named as "Outstanding Academic Book for 2007" by Choice Library
Magazine.

Reviews
Eric Scerri's new book is a most appropriate work to mark the
centenary of the death of Dimitri Mendeleev. The title—The Periodic
Table: Its Story and Its Significance—gives a fair idea of the book's
contents, and the author's approach and perspective are captured by
his statement that he is concentrating on "the fundamental scientific
and philosophical ideas that underpinned the evolution of the
system." This, then, is a book about scientific ideas. Scerri does
provide brief biographical sketches of each of his scientific
protagonists, but biographical, social and cultural context rarely
intrude into the narrative. American Scientist.

"Eric Scerri is something of a rara avis. Scerri's philosophical
orientation enriches the text by raising a number of thought-
provoking issues...The book under review here is clearly and engaging
written and meticulously researched with 42 pages of notes."--
Journal of Chemical Education

"The quality is not merely skin deep, there is a real scholarship
inside...I would have been proud to have written this book rather
than just contributing one image."-- Education in Chemistry

''This is undoublty a book that every practising chemist and
chemistry educator should read because of it's far-reaching
implications for understanding the nature of the periodic law and the
challenges it presents to contemporary portrayals of the Periodic
Table."-- Newsletter of International History, Philosophy and Science
Teaching Group

"The Perodic Table:Its Story and its Significance should be of great
interest and value to chemists and particularly to those chemists who
teach about what makes up us, our world, and our science."-- Journal
of Chemical Education

------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------



Dr. Eric Scerri
UCLA,
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry,











[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]