The eighth volume in the series examines the state of science and technology education throughout the world at the start of the 21st century, and highlights the diversity of the cultural, political and economic contexts within which science and technology are taught in schools across the globe. It draws upon the expert reflections and recommendations reached at the World Conference on Science, held in Budapest in 1999, and the International Conference of Science, Technology and Mathematics Education, held in Goa in 2001.

The book includes studies presented at the ATEE Spring Conference 2017 on emerging trends in the use of technology in educational processes, the use of robotics to facilitate the construction of knowledge, how to facilitate learning motivation, transformative learning, and innovative educational solutions. Chapters here are devoted to studies on the didactic aspects of technology usage, how to facilitate learning, and the social aspects affecting acquisition of education, among others. This volume serves as a basis for further discussions on the development of educational science, on topical research fields and practical challenges. It will be useful to scientists in the educational field who wish to get acquainted with the results of studies conducted in countries around the world on emerging educational issues. Moreover, teachers who need to implement into practice the newest scientific findings and opinions and future teachers who need to acquire new knowledge will also find this book useful.

The uses of technology in education have kindled great interest in recent years. Currently, considerable resources are being expended to connect schools to the Internet, to purchase powerful (and increasingly affordable) computers, and on other implementations of educational technologies. However, the mere availability of powerful, globally-connected computers is not sufficient to insure that students will learn--particularly in subjects that pose considerable conceptual difficulties, such as in science and mathematics. The true challenge is not just to put the newest technologies in our schools, but to identify advanced ways to design and use these new technologies to advance learning. This book offers a "snapshot" of current work that is attempting to address this challenge. It provides valuable and timely information to science and mathematics educators, educational and cognitive researchers, instructional technologists and educational software developers, educational policymakers, and to scholars and students in these fields.

This book is based on a set of stories from teachers and education professionals in thirteen OECD countries. Twenty-three case studies tell of innovations in practice involving school teachers, inspectors, academics and policy makers.

Education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is crucial for taking advantage of the prospects of new scientific discoveries initiating or promoting technological changes, and managing opportunities and risks associated with innovations. This book explores the emerging perspectives and methodologies of STEM education and its relationship to the cultural understanding of science and technology in an international context. The authors provide a unique perspective on the subject, presenting materials and experiences from non-European industrialized as well as industrializing countries, including China, Japan, South Korea, India, Egypt, Brazil and the USA. The chapters offer a wide scope of interpretations and comparative reviews of STEM education by including narrative elements about cultural developments, considering the influence of culture and social perceptions on technological and social change, and applying innovative tools of qualitative social research. The book represents a comprehensive and multidisciplinary review of the current status and future challenges facing STEM education across the world, including issues such as globalization, interdependencies of norms and values, effects on equity and social justice as well as resilience. Overall the volume provides valuable insights for a broad and comprehensive international comparison of STEM philosophies, approaches and experiences.

This volume provides a comprehensive and contemporary depiction of the swift evolution of learning technologies and the innovations that derive from their deployment in school education. It comprises cases studies, research focused on emergent technologies and experiments with existing tools in a wide range of scenarios. The studies included in this volume explore the conceptual and practical aspects of technologies that are used to support learning, with a multidisciplinary approach that encompasses all levels of education. The three sections of this volume emphasise the use of digital technologies from the viewpoint of different fields of expertise, explore multiple educational settings where technology was implemented to support the various stages of the learning process, and underline strategies, tools and technologies that play a crucial role in the professional development of teachers.

David D. Kumar and Daryl E. Chubin We live in an information age. Technology abounds: information tech nology, communication technology, learning technology. As a once popular song went, "Something's happening here, but it's just not exactly clear." The world appears to be a smaller, less remote place. We live in it, but we are not necessarily closely tied to it. We lack a satisfactory understanding of it. So we are left with a paradox: In an information age, information alone will neither inform nor improve us as citizens nor our democracy, society, or in stitutions. No, improvement will take some effort. It is a heavy burden to be reflective, indeed analytical, and disciplined but only constructively constrained by different perspectives. The science-based technology that makes for the complexity, contro versy, and uncertainty of life sows the seeds of understanding in Science, Technology, and Society. STS, as it is known, encompasses a hybrid area of scholarship now nearly three decades old. As D. R. Sarewitz,a former geologist now congressional staffer and an author, put it After all, the important and often controversial policy dilemmas posed by issues such as nuclear energy, toxic waste disposal, global climate change, or biotech nology cannot be resolved by authoritative scientific knowledge; instead, they must involve a balancing of technical considerations with other criteria that are explicitly nonscientific: ethics, esthetics, equity, ideology. Trade-offs must be made in light of inevitable uncertainties (Sarewitz, 1996, p. 182).