This truly international volume includes a selection of contributions to the Second Conference of the European Science Education Research Association (Kiel, Sept. 1999). It provides a state-of-the-art examination of science education research in Europe, discusses views and visions of science education research, deals with research on scientific literacy, on students' and teachers' conceptions, on conceptual change, and on instructional media and lab work.

This book reviews the current state of theoretical accounts of the what and how of science learning in schools. The book starts out by presenting big-picture perspectives on key issues. In these first chapters, it focuses on the range of resources students need to acquire and refine to become successful learners. It examines meaningful learner purposes and processes for doing science, and structural supports to optimize cognitive engagement and success. Subsequent chapters address how particular purposes, resources and experiences can be conceptualized as the basis to understand current practices. They also show how future learning opportunities should be designed, lived and reviewed to promote student engagement/learning. Specific topics include insights from neuro-imaging, actor-network theory, the role of reasoning in claim-making for learning in science, and development of disciplinary literacies, including writing and multi-modal meaning-making. All together the book offers leads to science educators on theoretical perspectives that have yielded valuable insights into science learning. In addition, it proposes new agendas to guide future practices and research in this subject.

Why is metacognition gaining recognition, both in education generally and in science learning in particular? What does metacognition contribute to the theory and practice of science learning? Metacognition in Science Education discusses emerging topics at the intersection of metacognition with the teaching and learning of science concepts, and with higher order thinking more generally. The book provides readers with a background on metacognition and analyses the latest developments in the field. It also gives an account of best-practice methodology. Expanding on the theoretical underpinnings of metacognition, and written by world leaders in metacognitive research, the chapters present cutting-edge studies on how various forms of metacognitive instruction enhance understanding and thinking in science classrooms. The editors strive for conceptual coherency in the various definitions of metacognition that appear in the book, and show that the study of metacognition is not an end in itself. Rather, it is integral to other important constructs, such as self-regulation, literacy, the teaching of thinking strategies, motivation, meta-strategies, conceptual understanding, reflection, and critical thinking. The book testifies to a growing recognition of the potential value of metacognition to science learning. It will motivate science educators in different educational contexts to incorporate this topic into their ongoing research and practice.

This state-of-the art research Handbook provides a comprehensive, coherent, current synthesis of the empirical and theoretical research concerning teaching and learning in science and lays down a foundation upon which future research can be built. The contributors, all leading experts in their research areas, represent the international and gender diversity that exists in the science education research community. As a whole, the Handbook of Research on Science Education demonstrates that science education is alive and well and illustrates its vitality. It is an essential resource for the entire science education community, including veteran and emerging researchers, university faculty, graduate students, practitioners in the schools, and science education professionals outside of universities. The National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST) endorses the Handbook of Research on Science Education as an important and valuable synthesis of the current knowledge in the field of science education by leading individuals in the field. For more information on NARST, please visit: http://www.narst.org/.

What is science for a child? How do children learn about science and how to do science? Drawing on a vast array of work from neuroscience to classroom observation, Taking Science to School provides a comprehensive picture of what we know about teaching and learning science from kindergarten through eighth grade. By looking at a broad range of questions, this book provides a basic foundation for guiding science teaching and supporting students in their learning. Taking Science to School answers such questions as: When do children begin to learn about science? Are there critical stages in a child's development of such scientific concepts as mass or animate objects? What role does nonschool learning play in children's knowledge of science? How can science education capitalize on children's natural curiosity? What are the best tasks for books, lectures, and hands-on learning? How can teachers be taught to teach science? The book also provides a detailed examination of how we know what we know about children's learning of scienceâ€"about the role of research and evidence. This book will be an essential resource for everyone involved in K-8 science educationâ€"teachers, principals, boards of education, teacher education providers and accreditors, education researchers, federal education agencies, and state and federal policy makers. It will also be a useful guide for parents and others interested in how children learn.

Science, engineering, and technology permeate nearly every facet of modern life and hold the key to solving many of humanity's most pressing current and future challenges. The United States' position in the global economy is declining, in part because U.S. workers lack fundamental knowledge in these fields. To address the critical issues of U.S. competitiveness and to better prepare the workforce, A Framework for K-12 Science Education proposes a new approach to K-12 science education that will capture students' interest and provide them with the necessary foundational knowledge in the field. A Framework for K-12 Science Education outlines a broad set of expectations for students in science and engineering in grades K-12. These expectations will inform the development of new standards for K-12 science education and, subsequently, revisions to curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional development for educators. This book identifies three dimensions that convey the core ideas and practices around which science and engineering education in these grades should be built. These three dimensions are: crosscutting concepts that unify the study of science through their common application across science and engineering; scientific and engineering practices; and disciplinary core ideas in the physical sciences, life sciences, and earth and space sciences and for engineering, technology, and the applications of science. The overarching goal is for all high school graduates to have sufficient knowledge of science and engineering to engage in public discussions on science-related issues, be careful consumers of scientific and technical information, and enter the careers of their choice. A Framework for K-12 Science Education is the first step in a process that can inform state-level decisions and achieve a research-grounded basis for improving science instruction and learning across the country. The book will guide standards developers, teachers, curriculum designers, assessment developers, state and district science administrators, and educators who teach science in informal environments.

The National Science Foundation funded a synthesis study on the status, contributions, and future direction of discipline-based education research (DBER) in physics, biological sciences, geosciences, and chemistry. DBER combines knowledge of teaching and learning with deep knowledge of discipline-specific science content. It describes the discipline-specific difficulties learners face and the specialized intellectual and instructional resources that can facilitate student understanding. Discipline-Based Education Research is based on a 30-month study built on two workshops held in 2008 to explore evidence on promising practices in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. This book asks questions that are essential to advancing DBER and broadening its impact on undergraduate science teaching and learning. The book provides empirical research on undergraduate teaching and learning in the sciences, explores the extent to which this research currently influences undergraduate instruction, and identifies the intellectual and material resources required to further develop DBER. Discipline-Based Education Research provides guidance for future DBER research. In addition, the findings and recommendations of this report may invite, if not assist, post-secondary institutions to increase interest and research activity in DBER and improve its quality and usefulness across all natural science disciples, as well as guide instruction and assessment across natural science courses to improve student learning. The book brings greater focus to issues of student attrition in the natural sciences that are related to the quality of instruction. Discipline-Based Education Research will be of interest to educators, policy makers, researchers, scholars, decision makers in universities, government agencies, curriculum developers, research sponsors, and education advocacy groups.

The International Handbook of Science Education is a two volume edition pertaining to the most significant issues in science education. It is a follow-up to the first Handbook, published in 1998, which is seen as the most authoritative resource ever produced in science education. The chapters in this edition are reviews of research in science education and retain the strong international flavor of the project. It covers the diverse theories and methods that have been a foundation for science education and continue to characterize this field. Each section contains a lead chapter that provides an overview and synthesis of the field and related chapters that provide a narrower focus on research and current thinking on the key issues in that field. Leading researchers from around the world have participated as authors and consultants to produce a resource that is comprehensive, detailed and up to date. The chapters provide the most recent and advanced thinking in science education making the Handbook again the most authoritative resource in science education.

Ph.D. students from 14 European countries, Israel, Turkey and Venezuela in addition to supervisors and lecturers from 11 countries including Israel and USA worked for one week to understand each other with the goal of improving and sharpening features of their respective theoretical backgrounds, research questions, and design and methodological demands. The projects presented reflect a multitude of topics and goals of research in science education in Europe as well as the variety and elaboration of theoretical frameworks used and a remarkable level of methodological expertise. The following topics are included: Teachers’ thinking and beliefs and teachers’ actions in the classroom, the interaction between specific programs of science museums and teachers’ and classes’ plans for engagement with them, teaching, learning and understanding of new subject matter for science classes, different interaction processes in the classroom, discourse analysis, decision making processes in science classes and the use of models in chemistry lessons and last but not least specific characters and the function of text when learning physics by means of computer-based multimedia. All science subjects including earth science are involved in these articles and the level of analysed e

This book emphasizes the significance of teaching science in early childhood classrooms, reviews the research on what young children are likely to know about science and provides key points on effectively teaching science to young children. Science education, an integral part of national and state standards for early childhood classrooms, encompasses not only content-based instruction but also process skills, creativity, experimentation and problem-solving. By introducing science in developmentally appropriate ways, we can support young children’s sensory explorations of their world and provide them with foundational knowledge and skills for lifelong science learning, as well as an appreciation of nature. This book emphasizes the significance of teaching science in early childhood classrooms, reviews the research on what young children are likely to know about science, and provides key points on effectively teaching young children science. Common research methods used in the reviewed studies are identified, methodological concerns are discussed and methodological and theoretical advances are suggested.