Critical Issues and Bold Visions for Science Education: The Road Ahead

Critical Issues and Bold Visions for Science Education contains 16 chapters written by 32 authors from 11 countries. The book is intended for a broad audience of teachers, teacher educators, researchers, and policymakers. Interesting perspectives, challenging problems, and fresh solutions grounded in cutting edge theory and research are presented, interrogated, elaborated and, while retaining complexity, offer transformative visions within a context of political tensions, historical legacies, and grand challenges associated with Anthropocene (e.g., sustainability, climate change, mass extinctions).

Within overarching sociocultural frameworks, authors address diverse critical issues using rich theoretical frameworks and methodologies suited to research today and a necessity to make a difference while ensuring that all participants benefit from research and high standards of ethical conduct. The focus of education is broad, encompassing teaching, learning and curriculum in pre-k-12 schools, museums and other informal institutions, community gardens, and cheeseworld. Teaching and learning are considered for a wide range of ages, languages, and nationalities. An important stance that permeates the book is that research is an activity from which all participants learn, benefit, and transform personal and community practices. Transformation is an integral part of research in science education.

Contributors are: Jennifer Adams, Arnau Amat, Lucy Avraamidou, Marcília Elis Barcellos, Alberto Bellocchi, Mitch Bleier, Lynn A. Bryan, Helen Douglass, Colin Hennessy Elliott, Alejandro J. Gallard Martínez, Elisabeth Gonçalves de Souza, Da Yeon Kang, Shakhnoza Kayumova, Shruti Krishnamoorthy, Ralph Levinson, Sonya N. Martin, Jordan McKenzie, Kathy Mills, Catherine Milne, Ashley Morton, Masakata Ogawa, Rebecca Olson, Roger Patulny, Chantal Pouliot, Leah D. Pride, Anton Puvirajah, S. Lizette Ramos de Robles, Kathryn Scantlebury, Glauco S. F. da Silva, Michael Tan, Kenneth Tobin, and Geeta Verma.

Lynn A. Bryan, Ph.D. (1997), Purdue University, is a Professor of Science Education and Director of the Center for Advancing the Teaching and Learning of STEM at Purdue University. Her first and most recent book (co-edited with Kenneth Tobin) is 13 Questions: Reframing Education’s Conversation: Science (Peter Lang, 2018).
Kenneth Tobin, Ed.D., (1980), is Presidential Professor of Urban Education at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Since 1973, Tobin has been involved in research on teaching, learning, and learning to teach science. His present research focus is on mindfulness, emotion, wellness, and sustainability. His emphasis is on educating the public, birth through death, emphasizing literacy for sustainable and happy/healthy lifestyles. Specifically, his ongoing research focuses on breathing while talking.