Transforming Undergraduate Science Teaching | Social Constructivist Perspectives. This item is unavailable.Transforming Undergraduate Science Teaching | Social Constructivist Perspectives

This book comes at a time when epistemological reform is sweeping through the global community of science education. Since the 1970s, the theories of knowing embodied in the teaching activities of school science teachers have been undergoing a major transformation toward more learner-sensitive standpoints. But undergraduate science teaching, the breeding ground of teachers of school science, has remained largely teacher-centered in many lecture theaters and laboratories. Little wonder that newly graduated science teachers arrive in school science classrooms ill prepared to practice learner-sensitive teaching. Thus, the motivating force behind this book is to expedite the process of epistemological reform of undergraduate science teaching, to align it with the reform goals of the science education community. The knowledge gained from this unique collection of studies can be extended to science courses for all students, those going on directly into science, those planning to become K-12 teachers of science, and those in allied fields as well.

The Editors: Peter C. Taylor is a tenured Senior Lecturer at the Science and Mathematics Education Centre and Key Centre for School Science and Mathematics at Curtin University of Technology in Perth, Western Australia. In 1994 he received the AERA Outstanding Paper Award from the Special Interest Group of the Study of Learning Environments. In 1997 he received the coveted NARST Early Career Research Award. He has more than 165 publications on science and mathematics education research.
Penny J. Gilmer, a biochemist and science educator, is Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Florida State University. In 1999 she received an Innovative Excellence in Teaching, Learning, and Technology Award from the Tenth International Conference on College Teaching and Learning. She has co-edited two monographs: Science in the Elementary School Classroom: Portraits of Action Research and Meaningful Science: Teachers Doing Inquiry + Teaching Science.
Kenneth Tobin, Professor of Science Education at University of Pennsylvania, is internationally known for his research in the teaching and learning of science. His current focus is on the issues in teaching and learning of science in urban areas. He edited The Practice of Constructivism in Science Education and co-edited the International Handbook of Science Education and Windows into Science Classrooms: Problems Associated with Higher-Level Cognitive Learning.