The Routledge Falmer Reader in Science Education

This volume owes its genesis to John Gilbert emailing forty colleagues in 14 countries to ask them what they perceived to be the most important current and future issues in science education. This then led to the identification of 30 different issues, which raised the broader question of the extent to which science education is a global phenomenon or more distinctive to particular countries. Some similar elements are seen to emerge such as the tightening of connections between schooling, employment and economic growth, and enhancing measurable outcomes. The essays are wide-ranging and cover many meta-issues such as the interaction between science and religion, the social construction of knowledge, conceptual change and the interplay between evidence and argument. Specific themes like globalisation, scientific literacy and the use of interactive multi-media learning are also addressed. Hence the book has a much wider reach than its title immediately suggests.