This discussion paper focuses on the purpose of, and vision for, Irish primary science education prior to the redevelopment and publication of the primary science curriculum in 2024. Scientific literacy is broadly accepted as the goal of science education. Despite this, curricular analysis focusing on scientific literacy in Europe is scarce. There…

The prevalence of systems thinking pedagogy is growing in classrooms because of its inclusion in the Next Generation Science Standards and its potential as a tool for addressing complex, global problems. While most of the research on systems thinking targets the ways students develop system thinking skills, this qualitative study explores…

This article considers the future of STEM education in Singapore, with implications for comparable schooling systems. The Thinking Schools Learning Nation (TSLN) interventions since 1997 brought changes to science education ostensibly for economic competitiveness, the results of which can only become visible in international comparisons in this…

Reforms in K-12 science education and their implications for PreK teaching, make this a critical time for developing a unified vision for early childhood science education. The goal of this essay is to provide a vision of what it might look like to leverage the best of both early childhood and K-12 science education reform efforts for meaningful…

Educational literature shows that students from working-class backgrounds are significantly less likely to persist to completion in higher education than middle-class students. This paper draws theoretically and analytically on Bernstein's ([1990. "Class, Codes and Control, Volume IV: The Structuring of Pedagogic Discourse." London:…

Right to Play's Plug-in-Play (PIP) project in Rwanda aims to enhance Science and Elementary Technology (SET) education through playful and interactive methods. This study, conducted by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) and Three Stones International (TSI), explores the implementation of learning through play with technology…

Matthew Arnold (1822-88) believed no branch of knowledge was important enough to stress at school while excluding others. He recommended including sciences in a broad curriculum. Arnold believed the broad-ranging curricula in certain European countries effectively encouraged a modernity which England, with its one-sided studies, could not emulate.…

Argues for the inclusion of societal and moral values in science classrooms. The task for Malaysian science educators is to raise awareness of these values. Contains 40 references. (Author/PVD)

Outlines features and characteristics of science-technology-society (STS) science textbooks needed to implement an STS curriculum, noting STS science requires a fundamentally different approach to teaching science. The article refers to an STS science textbook currently being implemented in the tenth grade. (SM)

This book describes a culturally responsive science curriculum that the author has been teaching for 25 years. The curriculum integrates Native American traditional values, teaching principles, and concepts of nature with those of modern Western science. Every Indigenous culture has an orientation to learning that is metaphorically represented in…

Examines issues of science and technology education in the United Kingdom, focusing on the Science and Technology in Society (SATIS) project which was designed to produce resource units to enrich existing curriculum materials for secondary students. The article discusses criteria for materials development, evaluation of SATIS, and future…

The Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative (AKRSI) was established in 1994 under the auspices of the Alaska Native/Rural Education Consortium, representing over 50 organizations concerned with education in rural Alaska. Its purpose is to implement initiatives that systematically document the indigenous knowledge systems of Alaska Native peoples and…

This report is one of a group of papers examining curriculum issues related to science education courses at a Swedish university. Symbolic interactionism and symbolic interactionist ethnography have informed the research strategies in these investigations. The paper focuses on curriculum development from the actor's perspective. To evaluate a…

This article suggests that a genuine reform endeavor towards the "Science for All" paradigm should adopt a holistic approach. There are several countries around the world that adopted the "Science for All" paradigm at the beginning of the 21st century. However, while looking closely at the amount of change that took place in…

This report warns that if current trends continue, the United States will lose is preeminence in science and technology and its leadership position in innovation. In this report, the Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) proposes a four-part action plan in which business, higher education, and policy leaders support P-12 education leaders in…