This book reflects on science education in the first 20 years of the 21st century in order to promote academic dialogue on science education from various standpoints, and highlights emergent new issues, such as education in science education research. It also defines new research agendas that should be “moved forward” and inform new trajectories through the rest of the century. Featuring 21 thematically grouped chapters, it includes award-winning papers and other significant papers that address the theme of the 2018 International Science Education Conference.

What should citizens know, value, and be able to do in preparation for life and work in the 21st century? In The Teaching of Science: 21st-Century Perspectives, renowned educator Rodger Bybee provides the perfect opportunity for science teachers, administrators, curriculum developers, and science teacher educators to reflect on this question. He encourages readers to think about why they teach science and what is important to teach.

This book provides an overview of science education policies, research and practices in mainland China, with specific examples of the most recent developments in these areas. It presents an insiders’ report on the status of Chinese science education written primarily by native speakers with first-hand experiences inside the country. In addition, the book features multiple sectional commentaries by experts in the field that further connect these stories to the existing science education literature outside of China. This book informs the international community about the current status of Chinese science education reforms. It helps readers understand one of the largest science education systems in the world, which includes, according to the Programme for International Student Assessment, the best-performing economy in the world in science, math and reading: Shanghai, China. Readers gain insight into how science education in the rest of China compares to that in Shanghai; the ways Chinese science educators, teachers and students achieve what has been accomplished; what Chinese students and teachers actually do inside their classrooms; what educational policies have been helpful in promoting student learning; what lessons can be shared within the international science education community; and much more. This book appeals to science education researchers, comparative education researchers, science educators, graduate students, state science education leaders and officers in the international communities. It also helps Chinese students and faculty of science education discover effective ways to share their science education stories with the rest of the world.

This book chronicles the revolution in STEM teaching and learning that has arisen from a convergence of educational research, emerging technologies, and innovative ways of structuring both the physical space and classroom activities in STEM higher education. Beginning with a historical overview of US higher education and an overview of diversity in STEM in the US, the book sets a context in which our present-day innovation in science and technology urgently needs to provide more diversity and inclusion within STEM fields. Research-validated pedagogies using active learning and new types of research-based curriculum is transforming how physics, biology and other fields are taught in leading universities, and the book gives profiles of leading innovators in science education and examples of exciting new research-based courses taking root in US institutions. The book includes interviews with leading scientists and educators, case studies of new courses and new institutions, and descriptions of site visits where new trends in 21st STEM education are being developed. The book also takes the reader into innovative learning environments in engineering where students are empowered by emerging technologies to develop new creative capacity in their STEM education, through new centers for design thinking and liberal arts-based engineering. Equally innovative are new conceptual frameworks for course design and learning, and the book explores the concepts of Scientific Teaching, Backward Course Design, Threshold Concepts and Learning Taxonomies in a systematic way with examples from diverse scientific fields. Finally, the book takes the reader inside the leading centers for online education, including Udacity, Coursera and EdX, interviews the leaders and founders of MOOC technology, and gives a sense of how online education is evolving and what this means for STEM education. This book provides a broad and deep exploration into the historical context of science education and into some of the cutting-edge innovations that are reshaping how leading universities teach science and engineering. The emergence of exponentially advancing technologies such as synthetic biology, artificial intelligence and materials sciences has been described as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and the book explores how these technologies will shape our future will bring a transformation of STEM curriculum that can help students solve many the most urgent problems facing our world and society.

This powerful new book is brain food for all those who care deeply about science and students, including teachers, science educators, curriculum specialists, and policy makers. The collection of 21 provocative essays gives you a fresh look at today's most pressing public policy concerns in science education, from how students learn science to building science partnerships to the ramifications of the No Child Left Behind legislation.

An emerging body of research suggests that a set of broad "21st century skills"-such as adaptability, complex communication skills, and the ability to solve non-routine problems-are valuable across a wide range of jobs in the national economy. However, the role of K-12 education in helping students learn these skills is a subject of current debate. Some business and education groups have advocated infusing 21st century skills into the school curriculum, and several states have launched such efforts. Other observers argue that focusing on skills detracts attention from learning of important content knowledge. To explore these issues, the National Research Council conducted a workshop, summarized in this volume, on science education as a context for development of 21st century skills. Science is seen as a promising context because it is not only a body of accepted knowledge, but also involves processes that lead to this knowledge. Engaging students in scientific processes-including talk and argument, modeling and representation, and learning from investigations-builds science proficiency. At the same time, this engagement may develop 21st century skills. Exploring the Intersection of Science Education and 21st Century Skills addresses key questions about the overlap between 21st century skills and scientific content and knowledge; explores promising models or approaches for teaching these abilities; and reviews the evidence about the transferability of these skills to real workplace applications.

The mission of the book series, Research in Science Education, is to provide a comprehensive view of current and emerging knowledge, research strategies, and policy in specific professional fields of science education. This series would present currently unavailable, or difficult to gather, materials from a variety of viewpoints and sources in a usable and organized format. Each volume in the series would present a juried, scholarly, and accessible review of research, theory, and/or policy in a specific field of science education, K-16. Topics covered in each volume would be determined by present issues and trends, as well as generative themes related to current research and theory. Published volumes will include empirical studies, policy analysis, literature reviews, and positing of theoretical and conceptual bases.