Chapter 1

Issues and Challenges in Science

Education Research
Kim Chwee Daniel Tan and Mijung Kim
1.1 Science Education Research
In contemporary society, the rapid advances in science and technology, newly
established societal and cultural norms and values, changes in the climate and envi
ronment, occurrences of natural and anthropogenic disasters, as well as the depletion
of natural resources greatly impact the lives of people, their ways of viewing the
world, experiencing phenomena around them, and interacting with others. Issues
and challenges such as sustainable development, conservation and efcient use of
energy and resources, the infuence of ubiquitous information and communication
technologies, and the ever greater impact of the developments in science and technology
in daily life require science educators to rethink the epistemology and pedagogy
employed in science lessons today.
Science is no longer a body of objective, value fee, and separated knowledge
fom the challenging issues in the world. Knowledge is interdependent, collective,
and emerging from dynamic interactions (Varela et al. 2000). In the reciprocal
relationship between scientifc knowledge and the world, teaching science is
something more than an instructional activity to-transmit content knowledge in the
curriculum to students. It is an enactive action to interpret and build relationships
between humans and the world through scientifc knowledge and methods rather
than locating scientifc knowledge into an independent realm of cognition from
the world. The question is how science education can help build a sound, sustainable
relationship among knowledge, humans, and the life world.
K.C.D. Tan (1)
Natural Sciences and Science Education, National Institute of Education,
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
e-mail: daniel.tan@nie.edu.sg
M.Kim
Curriculum and Instruction, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada
e-mail: mjkim@uvic.ca
K.C.D. Tan and M. Kim (eds.), Issues and Challenges in Science
Education Research: Moving Forward, DOl 10.1007/978-94-007-3980-2_1,
Springer Science+Business Media B.Y. 2012
2 K.C.D. Tan and M. Kim
Introducing the notion of science-in-the-making as opposed to ready-made
science, Latour (1987) explains scientifc knowledge as a process not a product. In
ready-made science, knowledge is certain, fxed, and unquestionable truth, whereas
in science-in-the-making, knowledge is open to challenges, contestable, and therefore
tentative. Science as a process opens the possibilities of interactive and emerging
scientifc knowledge and the use of creativity in science work in our current society.
The notion of science-in-the-making suggests the importance of questions in
science education and research such as what and how to teach science in order to
build better world to dwell in. The practice of science education needs to be proactive
and relevant to the contexts that we live in today so that students are better prepared
for the changes and challenges in the present and the future (Hodson 2003). To help
students become critical thinkers and problem solvers, it is essential to nurture
and support scientifc habits of mind and inquiry skills, critical thinking skills and
creativity, interdisciplinary investigations, and collaboration.
However, the level of science literacy is low in many countries, even in the indus
trialized nations (Miller 2004). School science abides in the domain of ready-made
science rather than science-in-the-making, and students lear theories, laws, and
formulae as the truth of the world out there (Kolsto 2001). Science teaching is still
content oriented rather than context-bound. The efectiveness of teachers' practice
is evaluated based on students' performance and assessment results. Given that
traditional ways of understanding and teaching science, linearity of knowledge
transmission, and content-based curriculum and assessment are no longer accepted
as efective teaching and leaing to address the complexity of problem solving in
the lifeworld (Davis 2004), science education research is required to understand
what and how to teach science in more efective and meaningful ways for students'
lives and the whole society.
To bring forth the interdependent relationships among science, human and the
society, science education rseah needs to pay mor attention to the lifeworld contexts.
It needs to produce insights to guide the teaching and leaing of science in formal
and informal contexts and to inform decision making on issues of science education
(Millar et al. 2006; Treagust 1995) as well as teacher education; it needs to challenge
practices which are inefective as well as irrelevant in the present times, validate and
support those which are sound and effectual, and appraise innovations to be
implemented in the classrooms (Millar et al. 2006).
1.2 The Structure of the Book
With the concers above in our mind, we address issues of scientifc literacy, teacher
knowledge and education, technologies in science teaching, and informal contexts
of science education in this book. We highlight thought-provoking papers including
the keynote lectures which were presented at the Interational Science Education
Conference in November 2009 and which address the current issues and challenges
in science education and science teacher education. The book is divided into four
1 Issues and Challenges in Science Education Research 3
sections: learing and teaching of science, science teacher education, innovations
and new technologies in science education, and science teaching in informal settings.
Part I concentrates on the leaing and teaching of science. Larry Yore proposes
Vision III of Science Literacy for All to provide a framework for the teaching and
learing of science and science education research and reform. Scientifc inquiry is
an essential component of scientifc literacy and Barbara Crawford discusses ways
to support teachers to teach science as inquiry and help students to develop the
essential skills required as well as lear science thr
o
ugh inquiry and argumentation.
Reinders Duit and David Treagust revisit conceptual change perspectives and argue
that conceptual change, when multiple epistemological perspectives of teaching and
leaing are taken into account, is still a relevant and potent famework for instruc
tional design and for improving students' learing of science. The learning of
science requires students to be competent in the interpreting and using multiple
representations, and how students demonstrate their understanding of organic
chemistry through speech, inscriptions, and gestures is described by Shien Chue
and Daniel Tan. To complete Part I, Helena Nas makes a case for alterative modes
of assessment as her study shows that students are better able to demonstrate
their understanding of photosynthesis and respiration in oral interviews compared
to written tests, and Niwat Srisawasdi gives an example of the use of computer
based laboratory environments to support students engaging in authentic scientifc
investigations.
Science teacher education is the focus of Part II. This section discusses the devel
opment of teachers' pedagogical content knowledge and skills through sharing
strategic models of teacher education program, teachers' challenges and dilemmas
in assessment and inquiry, and the need to prepare teachers to teach science for
sustainable development. Syh-Jong Jang proposes a peer-coaching model, PCK
COPR (PCK Comprehension, Observation, Practice, and Refection), for enhancing
the pedagogical content knowledge of pre service science teachers. Benny Yung dis
cusses teacher professional development in the context of mandated school-based
practical assessments, documenting the struggles of teachers with the issues of
assessment requirements and student leaing during practical work. This section
continues with the accounts of teacher
p
ractices as well as interventions put in place
to help teachers develop the knowledge and skills required for classroom teaching.
A creative and cooperative science and technology teacher educa
t
ion course to
foster problem solving and the development of novel pedagogies among teachers
is described by Ossi Autio and Jari Lavonen, followed by Christine Howitt and
colleagues who illustrate the challenges of helping preservice early childhood teach
ers acquire science content, pedagogical skills, and confdence to teach science to
very young children through a collaborative approach. Mijung Kim, Yong Jae Joung,
and Hye-Gyoung Yoon examine teachers' diffculties in science-inquiry teaching
through rethinking the meanings of hypothesis and challenges of hypothesis con
struction test and data interpretation in elementary science classrooms. This section
concludes with Katn Paige and David Lloyd intoducing pedagogical strategies and
practices to enhance preservice teachers' expertise and confdence to teach primary
and middle-school science for sustainable development in the current society.
4 K.C.D. Tan and M. Kim
Part III discusses the use of innovations and new technologies in science teaching
and learning. Susan Rodrigues describes research fndings from a series of her
previous research projects and summarize the opportunities and challenges of using
multimedia-based simulations to support chemistry education. Karen Murcia dis
cusses case studies on the impact of interactive whiteboard technology on science
learning and teaching and teacher professional development. Yam San Chee and
colleagues introduce the Legend of Alkhimia, a multiplayer computer game for the
learning of chemistry, and discuss the epistemological and pedagogical bases of
design-for-Ieaing with computer games. Finally, Julie Crough, Louise Fogg, and
Jenni Webber summaize the afordances of educational technologies and the barriers
to adopting these technologies in schools in sparsely populated and remote areas
where ,the infrastructures to support such technologies are inadequate.
Part IV presents science learing in informal settings, an increasingly important
area of science education. Elaine Blake and Christine Howitt explore how very
young children lea science in ealy leaing centers and the importance of providing
play time, resources, and adequate space as well as the role of a signifcant adult to
facilitate the children's learing of science. Junqing Zhai examines how two botanic
gaden educators' pedagogical practices support visitors' leang of ecological science
and proposes how such educators' professional development can be supported.
Jennifer Yeo and Yew Jin Lee focus on knowledge building and describe students'
learning of environmental science concepts during a nature leaing camp.
We conclude this book with our articulation of and refection on how research
needs to impact practice and policy. We hope this book is taken as all the conference
participants' collaborative eforts to question where we are now, as science educators
and researchers, and where we need to venture in order to address the issues and
needs of a changing world.
References
Davis, B. (2004). Invention of teaching: A genealogy. MahwahlLondon: Lawrence Erlbaum
Association Publishers.
Hodson, D. (2003). Time for action: Science education for an alterative future. Interational
Joural of Science Education, 25(6), 645-670.
Kolsto, S. (2001). Scientifc literacy for citizenship: Tools for dealing with the science dimension
of controversial socioscientifc issues. Science Education, 85(3), 291-310.
Latour, B. (1987). Science in action. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Millar, R., Leach, J., Osborne, J., & Ratclife, M. (2006). Research and practice in education.
In R. Millar, J. Leach, J. Osborne, & M. Ratclife (Eds.), Improving subject teaching:
Lessons from research in science education (pp. 3-23). London: Routledge.
Miller, J. D. (2004). Public understanding of, and attitude toward, scientifc research: What we
know and what we need to know. Public Understanding of Science, 13, 273-294.
Treagust, D. E (1995). Diagnostic assessment of students' science knowledge. In S. M. Glynn &
R. Duit (Eds.), Learing science in the schools: Researh reforming prctice (pp. 327-346).
Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Varela, E, Thompson, E., & Rosch, E. (2000). The embodied mind: Cognitive science and human
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