Engaging with Contemporary Challenges through Science Education Research

Engaging with Contemporary Challenges through Science Education Research
Author: Olivia Levrini
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2021-09-24
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3030744906

This book starts with the premise that beauty can be an engine of transformation and authentic engagement in an increasingly complex world. It presents an organized picture of highlights from the 13th European Science Education Research Association Conference, ESERA 2019, held in Bologna, Italy. The collection includes contributions that discuss contemporary issues such as climate change, multiculturalism, and the flourishing of new interdisciplinary areas of investigation, including the application of cognitive neuroscience, artificial intelligence, and digital humanities to science education research. It also highlights learners’ difficulties engaging with socio-scientific issues in a digital and post-truth era. The volume demonstrates that deepening our understanding is the preferred way to address these challenges and that science education has a key role to play in this effort. In particular, the book advances the argument that the deep and novel character of these challenges requires a collective search for new narratives and languages, an expanding knowledge base and new theoretical perspectives and methods of research. The book provides a contemporary picture of science education research and looks to the theoretical and practical societal challenges of the future.

Issues and Challenges in Science Education Research

Issues and Challenges in Science Education Research
Author: Kim Chwee Daniel Tan
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 346
Release: 2012-04-27
Genre: Science
ISBN: 940073980X

In contemporary society, science constitutes a significant part of human life in that it impacts on how people experience and understand the world and themselves. The rapid advances in science and technology, newly established societal and cultural norms and values, and changes in the climate and environment, as well as, the depletion of natural resources all greatly impact the lives of children and youths, and hence their ways of learning, viewing the world, experiencing phenomena around them and interacting with others. These changes challenge science educators to rethink the epistemology and pedagogy in science classrooms today as the practice of science education needs to be proactive and relevant to students and prepare them for life in the present and in the future. Featuring contributions from highly experienced and celebrated science educators, as well as research perspectives from Europe, the USA, Asia and Australia, this book addresses theoretical and practical examples in science education that, on the one hand, plays a key role in our understanding of the world, and yet, paradoxically, now acknowledges a growing number of uncertainties of knowledge about the world. The material is in four sections that cover the learning and teaching of science from science literacy to multiple representations; science teacher education; the use of innovations and new technologies in science teaching and learning; and science learning in informal settings including outdoor environmental learning activities. Acknowledging the issues and challenges in science education, this book hopes to generate collaborative discussions among scholars, researchers, and educators to develop critical and creative ways of science teaching to improve and enrich the lives of our children and youths.

Theorizing the Future of Science Education Research

Theorizing the Future of Science Education Research
Author: Vaughan Prain
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2019-10-22
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3030240134

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.

Engaging with Contemporary Challenges Through Science Education Research

Engaging with Contemporary Challenges Through Science Education Research
Author: Olivia Levrini
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2021
Genre:
ISBN: 9783030744915

This book starts with the premise that beauty can be an engine of transformation and authentic engagement in an increasingly complex world. It presents an organized picture of highlights from the 13th European Science Education Research Association Conference, ESERA 2019, held in Bologna, Italy. The collection includes contributions that discuss contemporary issues such as climate change, multiculturalism, and the flourishing of new interdisciplinary areas of investigation, including the application of cognitive neuroscience, artificial intelligence, and digital humanities to science education research. It also highlights learners' difficulties engaging with socio-scientific issues in a digital and post-truth era. The volume demonstrates that deepening our understanding is the preferred way to address these challenges and that science education has a key role to play in this effort. In particular, the book advances the argument that the deep and novel character of these challenges requires a collective search for new narratives and languages, an expanding knowledge base and new theoretical perspectives and methods of research. The book provides a contemporary picture of science education research and looks to the theoretical and practical societal challenges of the future.

A Framework for K-12 Science Education

A Framework for K-12 Science Education
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 400
Release: 2012-02-28
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0309214459

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.

Examining Ethics in Contemporary Science Education Research

Examining Ethics in Contemporary Science Education Research
Author: Kathrin Otrel-Cass
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 217
Release: 2020-08-31
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3030509214

This book poses questions on how to work ethically in research on science education. Applying research ethics reflectively and responsibly is fundamental for conducting research with people. It seeks to renew the conversation on how and why to engage with ethics in science education research and to adjust and refine research practices. It highlights both the need for methodological reflections in science education research and the particular ethical research challenges of science education. Science education research involves the study of people – often young and vulnerable people – and their practices. Researchers working within humanities and social science research commonly follow guidelines and codes of conducts set by country-specific ethics committees. Such guidelines function as minimal requirement for ethical reflection. This book seeks to engage the community of science education researchers in a conversation on ethics in science education moving beyond the mere compliance with governmental regulations toward a collective reflection. It asks the question of whether the existing guidelines provided for researchers are keeping up with contemporary realities of the visual presence of individuals in digital spaces. It also asks questions on how participatory research methodologies alters the relations between researchers and practitioners. This book is organized into two parts: Part one is entitled Challenging existing norms and practices. It asks questions such as: What are the conditions of knowledge that shape ethical decision making? Where is this kind of knowledge coming from? How is this knowledge structured, and where are the limitations? How can we justify our beliefs concerning our ethical research actions? Part two Epistemological considerations for ethical science education research centres norms and practices of conducting science education research in regard to methods, validity and scope.

Equity in STEM Education Research

Equity in STEM Education Research
Author: Alberto J. Rodriguez
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2022-09-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3031081501

This book focuses on the creative and transformative work of scholars who are advancing social justice through science/STEM education with limited resources. It draws attention to the significant body of work being conducted in various contexts so that readers could reflect and appreciate how much broader and transformative our impact could be if funding agencies, policy makers, and other researchers would widen their perspective and seek to promote social justice-driven scholarship. Public funding for STEM research on K-12 and teacher education that targets special populations is often limited and tends to favor mainstream research. This book contains case studies on innovative and promising STEM research with a focus on equity, diversity and social justice that are funded with limited or no public funding. It also presents anecdotes from authors in relation to their struggles in either securing funding for their reported study or seeking to publish its findings. This provides more context to the challenges of conducting non-mainstream research in science/STEM education. Most of the contributors are scholars of color and/or women conducting research with traditionally marginalized populations in science/STEM. Thus, this book offers an additional venue to share the voices of marginalized scholars and allies seeking to broaden our understanding of the challenges and successes of promoting equity, diversity, and social justice in various educational contexts.

Contributions from Science Education Research

Contributions from Science Education Research
Author: European Science Education Research Association. International Conference
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 508
Release: 2007-09-18
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1402050313

In August 2005, over 500 researchers from the field of science education met at the 5th European Science Education Research Association conference. Two of the main topics at this conference were: the decrease in the number of students interested in school science and concern about the worldwide outcomes of studies on students’ scientific literacy. This volume includes edited versions of 37 outstanding papers presented, including the lectures of the keynote speakers.

Socio-scientific Issues in the Classroom

Socio-scientific Issues in the Classroom
Author: Troy D. Sadler
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 387
Release: 2011-05-11
Genre: Science
ISBN: 940071159X

Socio-scientific issues (SSI) are open-ended, multifaceted social issues with conceptual links to science. They are challenging to negotiate and resolve, and they create ideal contexts for bridging school science and the lived experience of students. This book presents the latest findings from the innovative practice and systematic investigation of science education in the context of socio-scientific issues. Socio-scientific Issues in the Classroom: Teaching, Learning and Research focuses on how SSI can be productively incorporated into science classrooms and what SSI-based education can accomplish regarding student learning, practices and interest. It covers numerous topics that address key themes for contemporary science education including scientific literacy, goals for science teaching and learning, situated learning as a theoretical perspective for science education, and science for citizenship. It presents a wide range of classroom-based research projects that offer new insights for SSI-based education. Authored by leading researchers from eight countries across four continents, this book is an important compendium of syntheses and insights for veteran researchers, teachers and curriculum designers eager to advance the SSI agenda.

Handbook of Research on Teacher Education

Handbook of Research on Teacher Education
Author: Myint Swe Khine
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 582
Release: 2022-07-07
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9811924007

This comprehensive book presents emergent findings and promising results in teacher education, curriculum, assessment, teaching and learning approaches, pedagogical innovations and practices, and professional development in educating the next generation of students. The volume reflects the current trends and highlights teacher education programs in all 14 MENA countries in one place. The chapters in this handbook discuss the challenges and the ways to improve teacher education by the educators in the Middle East region, including Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. It also provides an extensive and rich reference for future comparisons across the countries. The book contains chapters written by experienced international teacher educators who draw on their experience and expertise to perennial issues and formidable challenges in teacher preparation and meaningful school reforms. This volume is a valuable resource and essential companion for teacher educators, faculty members, staff developers, trainee teachers, undergraduate and postgraduate students, researchers, school leaders, policy-makers, and professional learning communities to refresh their knowledge and improve their understanding. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in evolving issues in teacher education in the Middle East region.