Transnational Synergies In School Mathematics And Science Debates

This book highlights and interrogates the continued interest and scrutiny of mathematics and science education. National debates on excellence and equity tend to focus largely on underachievement in mathematics and science rather than subjects in the arts or music: this is due to a belief that these curriculum areas are central to individual workplace success and national development in a competitive economic environment. The authors explore the history of these assumptions, as well as the debates based around claims that student achievement levels in these subjects has fallen. Spanning the United States, New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom, the chapters question how such debates are sustained and amplified: how has this perceived ‘crisis’ been articulated and spread across national borders? This comprehensive book will be of interest and value to scholars of mathematics and science education, as well as international education debates.

The latest volume in the World Yearbook of Education Series explores the relationship between education and the globally prevalent principle of nationalism. This book identifies the diverse ways in which educational policies, discourses, curricula and pedagogy embed and promote the concept of "the nation" both historically and in the age of globalization. By challenging accounts owed to the discourse of "globalization" which conceal the presence of national epistemologies and interests in education, this book offers important insights into the role of education in making nationalism one of the most enduring and yet easily obscured forces of our time. Organized into four sections, this book looks at the following main issues: Historical (re)production of the nation considers how countries consider and reproduce their national identity and how this is built on their history Hegemonic aspirations and interventions examines how instruction technologies developed during the Cold War have been propagated and disseminated around the world, how the development of educational policy based on the human capital theory emerged, and analyzes the extent to which tech companies are intent on establishing an imperial order of learning Imperial policies and resurgences of nationalisms explores how global or imperial policies have been indulged in different parts of the world and how new forms of nationalism have been emerging Paradoxes, inconsistencies, and a self-reflection focuses on nations acting imperially as sites of domestic injustices, addresses unresolved paradoxes between the global and the national and includes a historically informed critical review of the World Yearbooks of Education Bringing together the voices of researchers from around the globe, The World Yearbook of Education 2022 is ideal reading for anyone interested in learning how nationalism has affected the expansion of education systems and how its imperial aspirations are currently affecting education policy and practice. Chapter 5 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.

This book is a contribution to the sociocultural approaches to Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education. It offers a new interpreting theoretical framework coming from the Cultural Historical Psychology. The authors highlight some serious elements of the sociocultural context that mediates learning on STEM or with STEM adds. The book brings together the work of researchers interested in developmental psychology and childhood, with a special focus on using Activity theory and Cultural-historical research approach to unite these two opposing approaches to the study of children. The authors reconsider our relationship and experiencing with technology. It moves the attention from the pure instrumental aspect of technology to a deep human and societal approach. Moreover, the book focuses on the issue of teachers' continuing education in both formal and informal settings is being seen under a sequential system of expansive cycles and the key role of contradictions in transformative educational settings. Overall, this book encourages the academic society to open dialogue with other societies and enhance interdisciplinary research in times of crisis.

This book explores the history of higher education in Thailand, and the ways in which excellence and equity have played out over time. Classed as a developing country, Thailand has implemented wide-reaching legislative and regulatory responses relating to the purpose, character of and access to higher education. The authors investigate these changes by interrogating the mechanisms and reciprocities that have operated at the international level to trigger this decision making, and acknowledge that these changes have often run up against long-standing cultural norms and ideologies. Thailand has a highly stratified society, and maintains a strong commitment to the preservation of Thai identity and traditional values: tensions and pressures are likely to arise when history, culture and ideology are not aligned with political decree. Importantly, the push and pull between equity and excellence within the education system are likely to lie at the heart of those tensions.

This report provides an international comparative analysis and policy advice to countries on how evaluation and assessment arrangements can be embedded within a consistent framework to improve the quality, equity and efficiency of school education.

This book is aimed at chemistry teachers, teacher educators, chemistry education researchers, and all those who are interested in increasing the relevance of chemistry teaching and learning as well as students' perception of it. The book consists of 20 chapters. Each chapter focuses on a certain issue related to the relevance of chemistry education. These chapters are based on a recently suggested model of the relevance of science education, encompassing individual, societal, and vocational relevance, its present and future implications, as well as its intrinsic and extrinsic aspects. “Two highly distinguished chemical educators, Ingo Eilks and AviHofstein, have brought together 40 internationally renowned colleagues from 16 countries to offer an authoritative view of chemistry teaching today. Between them, the authors, in 20 chapters, give an exceptional description of the current state of chemical education and signpost the future in both research and in the classroom. There is special emphasis on the many attempts to enthuse students with an understanding of the central science, chemistry, which will be helped by having an appreciation of the role of the science in today’s world. Themes which transcend all education such as collaborative work, communication skills, attitudes, inquiry learning and teaching, and problem solving are covered in detail and used in the context of teaching modern chemistry. The book is divided into four parts which describe the individual, the societal, the vocational and economic, and the non-formal dimensions and the editors bring all the disparate leads into a coherent narrative, that will be highly satisfying to experienced and new researchers and to teachers with the daunting task of teaching such an intellectually demanding subject. Just a brief glance at the index and the references will convince anyone interested in chemical education that this book is well worth studying; it is scholarly and readable and has tackled the most important issues in chemical education today and in the foreseeable future.” – Professor David Waddington, Emeritus Professor in Chemistry Education, University of York, United Kingdom

This state-of-the-art Handbook brings together important mathematics education research that makes a difference in both theory and practice--research that: anticipates problems and needed knowledge before they become impediments to progress; interprets future-oriented problems into researchable issues; presents the implications of research and theory development in forms that are useful to practitioners and policymakers; and facilitates the development of research communities to focus on neglected priorities or strategic opportunities. The volume represents a genuine attempt by contributors from around the world to advance the discipline, rather than simply review what has been done and what exists. The Handbook was developed in response to a number of major global catalysts for change, including the impact of national and international mathematics comparative assessment studies; the social, cultural, economic, and political influences on mathematics education and research; the influence of progressively sophisticated and available technology; and the increasing globalization of mathematics education and research. From these catalysts have emerged specific priority themes and issues for mathematics education research in the 21st century. Three key themes were identified for attention in this volume: life-long democratic access to powerful mathematical ideas; advances in research methodologies; and influences of advanced technologies. Each of these themes is examined in terms of learners, teachers, and learning contexts, with theory development as an important component of all these aspects. Dynamic and forward looking, the Handbook of International Research in Mathematics Education is distinguished by its focus on new and emerging theoretical models, perspectives, and research methodologies; its uniformly high standard of scholarship; and its emphasis on the international nature of mathematics education research. It is an essential volume for all researchers, professionals, and students interested in mathematics education research in particular and, more generally, in international developments and future directions in the broad field of educational research.

This handbook gathers in one volume the major research and scholarship related to multicultural science education that has developed since the field was named and established by Atwater in 1993. Culture is defined in this handbook as an integrated pattern of shared values, beliefs, languages, worldviews, behaviors, artifacts, knowledge, and social and political relationships of a group of people in a particular place or time that the people use to understand or make meaning of their world, each other, and other groups of people and to transmit these to succeeding generations. The research studies include both different kinds of qualitative and quantitative studies. The chapters in this volume reflect differing ideas about culture and its impact on science learning and teaching in different K-14 contexts and policy issues. Research findings about groups that are underrepresented in STEM in the United States, and in other countries related to language issues and indigenous knowledge are included in this volume.