The vast and rapidly growing amount of science education research makes it challenging for researchers to navigate and synthesize developments across the field, particularly concerning broad concepts evolving along divergent paths. To address this issue, a novel review methodology employing bibliometrics and network analysis was tested to identify…

Comenius (1592-1670) has been widely studied in educational research, although limited work has addressed his thinking about science education comprehensively. His Pansophist philosophy led him to believe that science was a necessary subject for all ("Omnes"). Comenius emphasised useful scientific knowledge and core principles…

Embedding learning abroad as part of the curriculum has become popular in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the US and European countries. In Australia, the government has actively promoted and committed to funding students' learning abroad in the Indo-Pacific region which is considered to be strategic to the nation's prosperity and public…

This study examines the relationship between informal science and indigenous innovations in local communities in which students matured. The discussion considers methods for bridging the gap that exists between parents' understanding of informal science ("Ubunifu") and what students learn in secondary schools in Kenya, Tanzania, and…

The fact that "The Next Generation Science Standards" ("NGSS") are standards and not curriculum (NRC 2012, p. xiv) means that while they tell teachers what to teach, they do not tell them "how" science shall be taught. Ana Houseal and Peter Ellsworth have worked with eight Wyoming school districts on the…

Improving youth science comprehension in the United States is imperative to reverse current trends in student achievement and to meet an expected shortage of scientists in the future. This lag in achievement scores and need for future scientists is a problem. One challenge is to link inquiry-based learning and experiential education with…

Education for sustainability provides a vision for revitalizing the environmental commons while preserving cultural traditions and human rights. What happens if the environmental commons is shared by two politically disparate and conflicting cultures? As in many shared common lands, what happens if one culture is dominant and represents a more…

This is a critical time for the science education community as we embark on the creation and implementation of new national science standards. The purpose of this essay is to offer insight into how the language of curriculum standards, including that found in state science standards in the United States over the past 15 years, has posed barriers…

This report aimed to measure the impact of a unique professional development program entitled Project ASTER III (Active Science Teaching Encourages Reform) on teachers' self-efficacy and perceptions about inquiry-based science teaching. Project ASTER III enabled teachers to explore inquiry-based science teaching through exhibit-based…

Explains why earthworms are fascinating and important animals whose study should be expanded. Describes how to collect earthworms and their castings and how to demonstrate their tunneling activity. Stresses animal's uniqueness and how it is interrelated with other animals, plants, and non-living parts of the world. (NEC)

For decades the National Science Foundation has been funding the development of instructional materials whose design is based upon the recommendations of educational research. These recommendations include the idea that learning be sequenced and organized using an experiential learning cycle or an instructional model such as the Biological Science…

Most conventional school science curricula and the teaching practices that implement them offer students no firsthand contact with working science. This paper seeks to answer the following questions: (1) How can "school science" claim to offer a basis for education in or about science at all? (2) What is the status of this claim in relation to…

Describes a high school astronomy course oriented around activities and designed to be fun-centered.'' The course is presented in packet form in order to keep the units of study short and comprehensible. Modular scheduling systems and field work are utilized to stress the activities approach. (JR)

Presented is an asymptotic approach to "authentic" science. Discussed are the following aspects of science: personal science, private science, public science, historical science, societal science, technological science, and the aims of science. (KR)