Exemplar

From ArticleWorld

An exemplar in science is a specific proposition, statement, assessment, or tool fundamental to the solving of other scientific 'puzzles'. Exemplars are taken to be concrete, specific solutions to particular scientific problems, and known, used, and accepted by every [[science|scientist. They are not generally overarching theories, but address distinct parts of different questions. They are often accepted as principles, and used as models for the solving of new problems. Exemplars thus play an important role in science education in imparting general principles and rules that serve to simplify other problems. Exemplars include [pendulum]]s and harmonic oscillators, for example.

The term exemplar was coined by Thomas Kuhn in an effort to stem what he saw as misuse of his term paradigm shfit in 'The Structure of Scientific Revolutions'. Paradigms are generally large-scale scientific worldviews, as it were, such as [Benjamin Franklin|Franklin]]'s theory of electricity, or Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity. According to Kuhn, exemplars, which are essential to the solving of everyday 'normal' science problems, are things like hydrogen atoms and Keplerian orbits.