2010 Winner of the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Association of Educational Publishers. This offers the opportunity to assess teaching techniques and find room for improvement. Whether you are early in your career or a seasoned professional, Reforming Secondary Science Instruction will help craft a workable plan for giving students the tools they need to succeed beyond the classroom.

In this volume of the ""Ways of Knowing in Science Series"", Rodger Bybee presents 15 years of his essays on science education, that develop several major themes: the need for the curriculum to take into account the accelerating pace of scientific research and discovery; the increasing irrelevance of the traditional boundaries among the sciences; the significant changes to civilisation brought about by scientific advancement; the growing realisation that the competitive position of any country in today's global economy rests primarily on the production and use of scientific knowledge and technologic products; and the necessity of scientific and technologic literacy for all citizens. As Bybee points out, the American educational community has not yet successfully redefined its goal to conform to new realities, a prerequisite to any meaningful transformation of the science curriculum. The book is suitable for use in graduate courses in science education, undergraduate methods courses, in-service science education teachers' courses, and for use by professors and researchers of science education, curriculum planners and school leaders.

This book presents an international perspective of the influence of educational context on science education. The focus is on the interactions between curriculum development and implementation, particularly in non-Western and non-English-speaking contexts (i.e., outside the UK, USA, Australia, NZ, etc. ). An important and distinguishing feature of the book is that it draws upon the experiences and research from local experts from an extremely diverse cohort across the world (26 countries in total). The book addresses topics such as: curriculum development; research or evaluation of an implemented curriculum; discussion of pressures driving curriculum reform or implementation of new curricula (e. g., technology or environmental education); the influence of political, cultural, societal or religious mores on education; governmental or ministerial drives for curriculum reform; economic or other pressures driving curriculum reform; the influence of external assessment regimes on curriculum; and so on.

Contents: Part 1 Reform of Secondary Education Introduction: Context, Conference Aims and Organisation, Conference Themes, Comparison of Outcomes from UNESCO Reports from Beijing, Beirut, Bangkok, and Mauritius with the Outcomes of the Muscat National and International Conferences, The Need for Balance, Conclusion: Recommendations for Reforming Secondary Education. Part 2 Secondary Education Reform and Youth Affairs Introduction and Background, Opening Session, Progress Reports, Round Table Presentations and Discussion, Round Table Themes, Conclusions and Outcomes of the Meeting, Future of the Consultative Group. Part 3 General Secondary School Education in the 21st Century General Secondary Education in the Twenty-First Century; Trends, Challenges and Priorities, Meeting Agreements of the UNESCO International Expert Meeting on General Secondary Education in the 21st Century.