Socially engaged engineering provides for student learning of the design, analysis, and practices of engineering as well as the ways that engineering is situated in sociocultural contexts. This paper provides a conceptual framework regarding socially engaged engineering for K-8 educators, researchers, and curriculum designers. The framework…

This study aims at identifying the intrinsic affective tendencies of science teachers in teaching socioscientific issues (SSI) based on different variables and their personal perspectives. The participants of the study consisted of 394 science teachers who taught at public schools during the 2021 and 2022 academic years. Regarding the research…

Environmental education research often emphasizes the importance of community context, but conceptualization and measurement of environmental literacy has mostly occurred at the individual level, often focusing on individual behaviors. The environmental problems facing the world today require collective action--communities coming together to…

Physics as a school subject is in general very unpopular. This fact is especially true for the situation in Austria. PISA results show that motivation, interest and self-efficacy of Austrian highschool students are significantly lower than the OECD average. In addition, a significant gender-gap in disadvantage for girls was shown. In general, one…

This study investigated argumentation patterns resulting in teacher-guided and peer-guided group discussions on four socioscientific-issues (SSI). Two groups, each including five students from grade 7, studied on a different SSI during four weeks. Discussions within both groups were observed, videotaped, and analyzed qualitatively. After four…

Kevin Rathunde turns his research lens to the task of finding out the relevance of the natural world, its impact on adolescent motivation, and its positive sustaining of concentration and focus. He cites "disembodiment and denaturing" as needing to be countered by contact with nature, leading to higher creativity, less drudgery, and more…

This article provides a transcript of the Presidential Address delivered by Martin Rees, Lord Rees of Ludlow, to the Association for Science Education (ASE) Annual Conference at the University of Reading, January 2013. The address is divided into five sections under the following headings: (1) Three Reasons Why the ASE's Mission Is So Important;…

Introduction: Just as we have created them, the new social media technologies have shaped every aspect of our societies. Meanwhile, information science has hardly addressed the ways in which these information technologies have shaped humans, and vice-versa. The major reason is the tendency and pressure to adjust (the needs of) humans to the ever…

Presents portions of a speech by the director of the Four Worlds Development Project (FWDP) at the annual Pugwash conference on social and ethical dimensions of science and technology. Relates the healing work of FWDP and the Pugwash ethic to the attitudes of Native American elders. (DHP)

Argues that academe is a culture which is characterized by values, goals, and ways of working which are fundamentally at odds with laissez-faire individualism, profit, market-forces, and competition. Asserts that academe cannot be squeezed into conformity with the prevailing conservative political culture which advocates privatization and reduced…

Explores the ecological and pedagogical images hidden within a tale of the author's returning to the place where he grew up and going for a birding walk with some old friends. Contains 18 references. (DDR)

Contains student papers and abstracts of panel discussions on the following topics: (1) social impact of networked communications; (2) text authenticity issues; (3) geographic information systems; (4) the dilemma of open networks versus information accuracy and personal rights; and (5) empowering medical applications via the network. (KRN)

Considers a number of historical and present-day examples to argue that the founding vision of Science-Technology-Society (STS) education as a collaborative enterprise still offers some valuable lessons about how best to reach students at all levels and the general public. Contains 46 references. (Author/WRM)

Presents a framework for the study of Science-Technology-Society (STS) interactions and some uses of the framework. States six tenets of the STS interaction. (YP)

Discussed is the linkage between science, technology, and religious ideas. Tillich's continuum of existentialism, philosophy, and theology and his concepts of the multidimensional unity of life have been used to develop a technology and religion course. Included are the core ethic and basic tenets for STS education. (KR)