This collection of historical accounts provides diverse perspectives on the structure and culture of the community of researchers who participate in activities of the Australasian Science Education Research Association (ASERA). It describes the formation of the Association, and identifies major changes and challenges for the ever growing and…

Science educators and researchers have bemoaned the lack of reform-based science in elementary schools and focused on teachers' difficulties (i.e., lack of knowledge, interest, experience) in enacting quality science pedagogy. We present compelling evidence that challenges assumptions about science education reform and draw on a practice theory…

This article reviews the contributions of Campbell John McRobbie, Cam, to science education scholarship and research within the Australasian Science Education Research Association (ASERA) and within the broader science education community. Cam provided strong leadership and vision across many spheres of science education and leaves a legacy to the…

This commentary first summarizes and discusses the analysis of the two translation processes described in the Oliveira, Colak, and Akerson article and the inferences these researchers make based on their research. In the second part of the commentary, we describe procedures and criteria used in adapting tests into different languages and how they…

Resistance to more humanistic forms of science education is an endemic and persistent feature of university scientists as well as school science teachers. This article argues that science education researchers should pay more attention to its origins and to the subtleties of its stubborn influence. The paper explores some of the imperatives which…

As we contemplate on teacher identity research, there is a need to place a teacher's narratives or story-lines at the center of that work. In this forum, in response to the insightful commentary from Stephen Ritchie and Maria Inez Mafra Goulart and Eduardo Soares, I place a greater emphasis on understanding Daisy's narratives from an existing…

In focusing on the Kincheloe and Tobin paper, "The Much Exaggerated Death of Positivism," this forum explores the hegemony of positivism in the professional practices of a group of educators whose research expertise lies in the fields of science education, mathematics education and leadership education. Responding to the first question, "What is…

In this manuscript we examine how two students develop and express agency in and through high school physics. We tell the stories of two youth from a low-income, urban community to elucidate the important components of critical science agency in a physics context, and to situate a set of claims about how youth develop and express this concept.…

In this paper I reflect on perspectives presented by John Settlage as he examines the truth of the proposition that "many teacher educators harbour deficit perspectives about their pre-service teachers, presuming that their lack of exposure to economically, ethnically and linguistically diverse settings renders them deficient as future educators."…

This article examines Mary Budd Rowe's groundbreaking and far-reaching contributions to science education. Rowe is best known for her research on wait-time: the idea that teachers can improve the quality and length of classroom discussions by waiting at least 3 s before and after student responses. Her wait-time research grew from and helped…

This paper provides a critical review essay of Ajay Sharma's "Portrait of a science teacher as a bricoleur: A case study from India." The main focus is two fold. First, arguments are presented to draw attention to how little advances in science teaching and science learning research have impacted teachers' practice and student…

In this response to commentaries by Ali Sammel, Jhumki Basu and Alberto Rodriguez, I present my perspective on three important issues raised by the commentators. These issues relate to the role of a researcher in her field settings and society, the critique of science and science education as oppressive dominant discourses, and co-opting…