In 2007, the Monash-Kings College London International Centre for the Study of Science and Mathematics Curriculum edited a book called The Re-emergence of Values in Science Education. This book reflects on how values have been considered since this original publication, particularly in terms of socio-cultural, economic and political factors that have impacted broadly on science, technology and society, and more specifically on informal and formal science curricula. Hence, the title of this book has been framed as Values in Science Education: The shifting sands. As in the first book, this collection focuses on values that are centrally associated with science and its teaching, and not the more general notion of values such as cooperation or teamwork that are also important values in current curricula. Such values have indeed become more of a focus in science education. This may be a response to the changing global context, where technological changes have been rapid and accelerating. In such complex and risky environments, it is our guiding principles that become the important mainstays of our decisions and practices. In terms of science education, what is becoming clearer is that traditional content and traditional science and scientific methods are not enough for science and hence science education to meet such challenges. While shifts in values in science education continue, tensions remain in curriculum development and implementation, as evidenced by the continued diversity of views about what and whose values matter most.

Examines ways in which beliefs and values interact with science and science teaching

Issues relating to values have always had a place in the school science curriculum. Sometimes this has been only in terms of the inclusion of topics such as ‘the nature of science’ and/or ‘scientific method’ and/or particular intentions for laboratory work that relate to ‘scientific method.’sometimes it has been much broader, for example in curricula with STS emphases. Of importance to aspects of this proposal is that different countries/cultures have had different traditions in terms of the place of values in the school [science] curriculum. One obvious very broad difference of this form is the central place in [science] education thinking in many European countries of bildung, and the complete absence of this construct from most [science] curriculum thinking in English speaking contexts. There are numbers of such country/cultural differences. In the 1990s many countries moved towards various conceptualizations of Outcomes Based Education - OBE (sometimes so labelled and sometimes not). It was usual (but not universal) for OBE focused science curricula to have constrained views of the values that should be implicit and explicit in curriculum; that is views concerned only with ‘the nature of science’ and ‘scientific method’ (both usually seen as quite unproblematic). Currently there are a number of education systems that are changing again, and choosing to move away from Outcomes Based Education (for example, South Africa and several Australian states). One of the most interesting features of many of these movements is the re-embracing of a wider view of the science curriculum, including a reconsideration of the nature and place of the values associated with science in the purposes for and approaches to science education.

By investigating the re-emergence of intellectual, moral, and civic virtues in the practice and teaching of science, this text challenges the increasing professionalization of science; questions the view of scientific knowledge as objective; and highlights the relationship between democracy and science. Written by a range of experts in science, the history of science, education and philosophy, the text establishes the historical relationship between natural philosophy and the Aristotelian virtues before moving to the challenges that the relationship faces, with the emergence, and increasing hegemony, brought about by the professionalization of science. Exploring how virtues relate to citizenship, technology, and politics, the chapters in this work illustrate the ways in which virtues are integral to understanding the values and limitations of science, and its role in informing democratic engagement. The text also demonstrates how the guiding virtues of scientific inquiry can be communicated in the classroom to the benefit of both individuals and wider societies. Scholars in the fields of Philosophy of Science, Ethics and Philosophy of Education, as well as Science Education, will find this book to be highly useful.

Issues relating to values have always had a place in the school science curriculum. Sometimes this has been only in terms of the inclusion of topics such as 'the nature of science' and/or 'scientific method' and/or particular intentions for laboratory work that relate to 'scientific method.'sometimes it has been much broader, for example in curricula with STS emphases. Of importance to aspects of this proposal is that different countries/cultures have had different traditions in terms of the place of values in the school [science] curriculum. One obvious very broad difference of this form is the central place in [science] education thinking in many European countries of bildung, and the complete absence of this construct from most [science] curriculum thinking in English speaking contexts. There are numbers of such country/cultural differences. In the 1990s many countries moved towards various conceptualizations of Outcomes Based Education - OBE (sometimes so labelled and sometimes not). It was usual (but not universal) for OBE focused science curricula to have constrained views of the values that should be implicit and explicit in curriculum; that is views concerned only with 'the nature of science' and 'scientific method' (both usually seen as quite unproblematic). Currently there are a number of education systems that are changing again, and choosing to move away from Outcomes Based Education (for example, South Africa and several Australian states). One of the most interesting features of many of these movements is the re-embracing of a wider view of the science curriculum, including a reconsideration of the nature and place of the values associated with science in the purposes for and approaches to science education.

The role of values in scientific research has become an important topic of discussion in both scholarly and popular debates. Pundits across the political spectrum worry that research on topics like climate change, evolutionary theory, vaccine safety, and genetically modified foods has become overly politicized. At the same time, it is clear that values play an important role in science by limiting unethical forms of research and by deciding what areas of research have the greatest relevance for society. Deciding how to distinguish legitimate and illegitimate influences of values in scientific research is a matter of vital importance. Recently, philosophers of science have written a great deal on this topic, but most of their work has been directed toward a scholarly audience. This book makes the contemporary philosophical literature on science and values accessible to a wide readership. It examines case studies from a variety of research areas, including climate science, anthropology, chemical risk assessment, ecology, neurobiology, biomedical research, and agriculture. These cases show that values have necessary roles to play in identifying research topics, choosing research questions, determining the aims of inquiry, responding to uncertainty, and deciding how to communicate information. Kevin Elliott focuses not just on describing roles for values but also on determining when their influences are actually appropriate. He emphasizes several conditions for incorporating values in a legitimate fashion, and highlights multiple strategies for fostering engagement between stakeholders so that value influences can be subjected to careful and critical scrutiny.

Prompted by the ongoing debate among science educators over ‘nature of science’, and its importance in school and university curricula, this book is a clarion call for a broad re-conceptualizing of nature of science in science education. The authors draw on the ‘family resemblance’ approach popularized by Wittgenstein, defining science as a cognitive-epistemic and social-institutional system whose heterogeneous characteristics and influences should be more thoroughly reflected in science education. They seek wherever possible to clarify their developing thesis with visual tools that illustrate how their ideas can be practically applied in science education. The volume’s holistic representation of science, which includes the aims and values, knowledge, practices, techniques, and methodological rules (as well as science’s social and institutional contexts), mirrors its core aim to synthesize perspectives from the fields of philosophy of science and science education. The authors believe that this more integrated conception of nature of science in science education is both innovative and beneficial. They discuss in detail the implications for curriculum content, pedagogy, and learning outcomes, deploy numerous real-life examples, and detail the links between their ideas and curriculum policy more generally.