Conference Proceedings New Perspectives In Science Education

This book contains papers presented at the International Conference on Science Education 2012, ICSE 2012, held in Nanjing University, Nanjing, China. It features the work of science education researchers from around the world addressing a common theme, Science Education: Policies and Social Responsibilities.The book covers a range of topics including international science education standards, public science education and science teacher education. It also examines how STEM education has dominated some countries’ science education policy, ways brain research might provide new approaches for assessment, how some countries are developing their new national science education standards with research-based evidence and ways science teacher educators can learn from each other.Science education research is vital in the development of national science education policies, including science education standards, teacher professional development and public understanding of science. Featuring the work of an international group of science education researchers, this book offers many insightful ideas, experiences and strategies that will help readers better understand and address challenges in the field.

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.