We present a systematic review of 29 empirical studies on disability and fieldwork in natural science, postsecondary educational settings. Undergraduate students with disabilities are underrepresented in STEM, and disciplines requiring major field components are some of the least diverse, at least in part because fieldwork has been traditionally…

Controversial scientific issues, or socioscientific issues (SSIs), demand the consideration of more than scientific content when constructing decisions. The Justification for Knowing framework (JFK) was developed to categorize the information sources drawn upon when making SSI decisions within the academic domain of natural sciences. These…

Informed scientific thinking is a vital component of engaging all socioscientific issues (SSI) such as climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic. However, socioscientific engagement may be influenced by sociocultural factors and mis/disinformation efforts to the widespread detriment of human and environmental well-being. The purpose of this…

This ethnographic study explored aspects of how the natural sciences were represented in a Reggio Emilia-inspired laboratory preschool. The natural sciences as a discipline--a latecomer to preschool curricula--and the internationally known approach, Reggio Emilia, interested educators and researchers, but there was little research about science in…

Human expert problem-solving in science is defined and used to account for scientific discovery. These ideas are used to describe BACON.5, a machine expert problem solver that discovers scientific laws using data-driver heuristics and "expectations" such as symmetry. Implications of BACON.5 type research for traditional science education…

The purpose of this article is to introduce a definition of science that may be useful as an alternative to those that are typically found in the literature, and to present research indicating its potential effectiveness. (PR)

Discusses the need for science educators to understand the relationship between cultural and socioeconomic issues and the science education of inner-city students. Studies a homeless family in a major metropolitan area in the Northeast and frames the analysis through the pedagogical questions of representation of science through culture,…

The benefits of a compulsory internship in environmental science education were investigated with respect to the three institutional goals of university education: (1) training for research; (2) professional education; and (3) general natural science education. A survey examined which student qualifications are improved by an internship…