Suchergebnisse

The COVID-19 pandemic has touched almost every corner of the planet and continues to impact on lives, livelihoods, economies and cultures. It is both a human and a global phenomenon. Making sense of what is happening requires an understanding of a number of scientific ideas including viruses, transmission, incubation and vaccination. These are life and death issues and yet the public and their political leaders often display a deliberate mistrust of the science and scientists. How might the science education community respond? We pose a series of questions designed to provoke a strong response to COVID-19 from our community and our colleagues: "How well has the science curriculum prepared the world's public for COVID-19?"; "How much science education should be online from now on?"; "Are we learning from the current situation?"; "Is science education research producing knowledge that protects society from catastrophic events?"; "How should our working practices change to make science education more resilient, more useful and more transparent?"; "What are the ethics and politics of social distancing and how do they affect science education?"; "What pedagogies might we need to turn to in the future?"; and, "What role should business and industry play in funding science education research and development?" In our attempt to stimulate the development of a vision for science education in the post-pandemic era, we offer initial thoughts about moving forward. What we offer is a departure point, an invitation for the community to engage with pressing issues in science education. The main question we pose is the following: What can be done, and what can be done differently? We envision that this paper will provide some guidance to the readers to re-think the complex systems and socio-political contexts within which people come to learn and practice science and to conceptualize these processes through a social justice lens. We argue that a social justice informed approach towards shaping a vision for science education in the post-pandemic era is of paramount importance and that failure to do so will only serve as a way of perpetuating existing inequalities.

The COVID-19 pandemic has touched almost every corner of the planet and continues to impact on lives, livelihoods, economies and cultures. It is both a human and a global phenomenon. Making sense of what is happening requires an understanding of a number of scientific ideas including viruses, transmission, incubation and vaccination. These are life and death issues and yet the public and their political leaders often display a deliberate mistrust of the science and scientists. How might the science education community respond? We pose a series of questions designed to provoke a strong response to COVID-19 from our community and our colleagues: "How well has the science curriculum prepared the world's public for COVID-19?"; "How much science education should be online from now on?"; "Are we learning from the current situation?"; "Is science education research producing knowledge that protects society from catastrophic events?"; "How should our working practices change to make science education more resilient, more useful and more transparent?"; "What are the ethics and politics of social distancing and how do they affect science education?"; "What pedagogies might we need to turn to in the future?"; and, "What role should business and industry play in funding science education research and development?" In our attempt to stimulate the development of a vision for science education in the post-pandemic era, we offer initial thoughts about moving forward. What we offer is a departure point, an invitation for the community to engage with pressing issues in science education. The main question we pose is the following: What can be done, and what can be done differently? We envision that this paper will provide some guidance to the readers to re-think the complex systems and socio-political contexts within which people come to learn and practice science and to conceptualize these processes through a social justice lens. We argue that a social justice informed approach towards shaping a vision for science education in the post-pandemic era is of paramount importance and that failure to do so will only serve as a way of perpetuating existing inequalities.

Special Issue: Research on Learning Science in Informal Contexts (Editors: Justin Dillon & Jonathan Osborne). Contents: Editorial: Research on Learning in Informal Contexts: Advancing the Field? Jonathan Osborne & Justin Dillon. 1. Conversations about Science across Activities in Mexican-Descent Families - Deborah Siegel, Jennifer Esterly, Maureen A. Callanan, Ramser Wright. 2. The Value of 'Dialogue Events' as Sites of Learning: An Exploration of Research & Evaluation Frameworks - Jane L. Lehr, Ellen McCallie, Sarah Davies, Brandiff R. Caron, Benjamin Gammon, and Sally Duensing. 3. School Site to Museum Floor: How Informal Science Institutions Work with Schools - Michelle Phillips, Doreen Finkelstein, Saundra Wever-Frerichs. 4. Conceptualizing Learning from the Everyday Activities of Digital Kids - Sherry Hsi. 5. Participation at exhibits: Creating engagement with new technologies in science centres - Robin Meisner, Dirk vom Lehn, Christian Heath, Alex Burch, Ben Gammon, Molly Reisman. 6. The use of questions in exhibit labels to generate explanatory conversation among science museum visitors - Jill Hohenstein and Lynn Uyen Tran. 7. Talk, Tools, and Tensions: Observing Biological Talk Over Time - Doris Ash, Rhiannon Crain, Carol Brandt, Molly Loomis, Mele Wheaton, Christine Bennett.

Preliminary Material /Robert B. Stevenson and Justin Dillon -- Introduction to Issues in Learning, Culture and Agency in Environmental Education /Robert Stevenson and Justin Dillon -- Exploring Student Learning and Challenges in Formal Environmental Education /Mark Rickinson and Cecilia Lundholm -- Rainbow Warriors: The Unfolding of Agency in Early Adolescents' Environmental Involvement /Natasha Blanchet-Cohen -- Social Learning in Action: A Reconstruction of an Urban Community Moving Towards Sustainability /Arjen E. J. Wals and Leonore Noorduyn -- Synergy of the Commons: Co-Facilitated Learning and Collective Action /Charlotte Clark -- 'If the Public Knew Better, they Would Act Better': The Pervasive Power of the Myth of the Ignorant Public /Elin Kelsey and Justin Dillon -- Learning and Participation in Developmental Projects Directed Towards Sustainable Development in Conference Centres /Jeppe Læssøe and Monica Carlsson -- The Role and Influence of News Media on Public Understanding of Environmental Issues /Martin Storksdieck and Cathlyn Stylinski -- Popular Media, Intersubjective Learning and Cultural Production /Marcia Mckenzie , Constance Russell , Leesa Fawcett and Nora Timmerman -- Understanding Others, Understanding Ourselves: Engaging in Constructive Dialogue About Process in Doctoral Study in (Environmental) Education /Jutta Nikel , Kelly Teamey , Se-Young Hwang , Benjamin Alberto Pozos-Hernandez , Alan Reid and Paul Hart -- New Possibilities for Mediation in Society: How is Environmental Education Research Responding? /Rob O'Donoghue and Heila Lotz-Sisitka -- Environmental Learning and Agency in Diverse Educational and Cultural Contexts /Robert B. Stevenson and Carolyn Stirling -- Biographies /Robert B. Stevenson and Justin Dillon -- Index /Robert B. Stevenson and Justin Dillon.

Providing high quality learning experiences outside the classroom requires professional educators and educational programme designers to continuously improve their knowledge, skills and attitudes toward teaching and learning. This chapter describes long-term professional development courses designed and implemented by botanic gardens across Europe. The programmes were established as part of a European Union funded project (INQUIRE). They were designed to encourage school teachers and botanic garden educators to establish interdisciplinary learning communities. The participants in the course were asked to make their tacit knowledge more explicit, share it and adopt positive attitudes towards theory-based instruction as well as use reflective practice as tools for improving their educational programmes. Learning in a collaborative network is a special mode of knowledge production which values knowledge that is embedded in social structures within and between individuals. To gain more insight into these structures and eventually use this knowledge to scaffold the social process most effectively, Social Network Analysis was used. This approach enables the course instructor to identify particular individuals in the group who are recognised as 'hubs' and 'authorities' by others and therefore impact the whole community. The process of making social interactions visible may help to improve professional development offers in the future.

STEM, an acronym for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, is widely used in science education. There is confusion, however, as to its provenance and meaning which is potentially problematic. This study examines the purpose and underlying philosophy of STEM practice in education in England and asks if there are differences in perceptions of STEM between science and mathematics educator stakeholders. The study's contribution to the literature is its unusual focus on those who were responsible for making and enacting national STEM policy. A two-phase qualitative approach was followed comprising an analysis of government documentation related to STEM initiatives together with semi-structured interviews with 21 key contributors to the science and mathematics education discourse in England. Using thematic analysis, recurring patterns were identified in the data. Findings suggest that there is a disconnect between the interpretations of the science and mathematics educators with a danger/advantage dichotomy to participation in STEM being perceived by the mathematics educators. Potential danger did not appear to be felt by science educators, possibly as science was perceived as dominant in STEM discourse. Broader early aims of the architects of the STEM agenda, including those of increasing diversity among STEM students, gave way to a focus on numbers of post-16 physics and mathematics students. We conclude that if the term STEM is to continue to be used then there is a need for greater clarity about what it represents in educational terms and a wider debate about its compatibility with the aims of science education for all.

STEM, an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, is widely used in science education. There is confusion, however, as to its provenance and meaning which is potentially problematic. This study examines the purpose of STEM practice in education in England and asks if there are differences in perceptions of STEM between science and mathematics educator stakeholders. The study's contribution to the literature is its unusual focus on those who were responsible for making and enacting national STEM policy. A two-phase qualitative approach was followed comprising an analysis of government documentation together with semi-structured interviews with key contributors to the science and mathematics education discourse. Findings suggest that there is a disconnect between the interpretations of the science and mathematics educators with a danger-advantage dichotomy to participation in STEM being perceived by the mathematics educators. Early aims of the STEM agenda, including increasing diversity, gave way to a focus on numbers of post-16 physics and mathematics students. We conclude that if the term STEM is to continue to be used then there is a need for greater clarity about what it represents in educational terms and a wider debate about its compatibility with the aims of science education for all.

"The environment and contested notions of sustainability are increasingly topics of public interest, political debate, and legislation across the world. Environmental education journals now publish research from a wide variety of methodological traditions that show linkages between the environment, health, development, and education. This growth in scholarship makes this an opportune time to review and consolidate the knowledge base of the environmental education (EE) field. The purpose of this 51-chapter handbook is not only to illuminate the most important concepts, findings and theories that have been developed by EE research, but also to critically examine the historical progression of the field, its current debates and controversies, what is still missing from the EE research agenda, and where that agenda might be headed. Published for the American Educational Research Association (AERA)"--