Problems of Meaning in Science Curriculum (Ways of Knowing in Science and Mathematics Series)

If significant and lasting reform is what science educators seek, this landmark international volume is the perfect catalyst. Problems of Meaning in Science Curriculum looks beyond the obvious in thinking about the curriculum to examine the very character of the human interactions that are at the heart of the school experience. This collection of analytical essays is about the selection, production, and expression of meaning offered to students by the curriculum, specifically the curriculum in school science. The result of collaboration among 13 renowned scholars and activists from five countries, these essays develop the concept of companion meanings that can be seen to accompany the more obvious scientific meanings usually attended to in science curriculum development. Examples for analysis are drawn from sources that include policy debate, textbooks, classroom discourse, and such recent efforts at science curriculum renewal as the U.S. National Science Education Standards.

Douglas A. Roberts is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Calgary, Canada. Leif Ostman is a lecturer in the Department of Teacher Training at Uppsala University, Sweden.