Sensemaking has been advocated as a core practice of science education to support students in constructing their own understanding through a prolonged trajectory. However, the field lacks a discussion of teaching strategies that can better support students as they develop in the trajectory of sensemaking, which includes four phases: initial…

Pursuing both disciplinary authenticity and personal relevance in the teaching and learning of science in school generates tensions that should be acknowledged and resolved. This paper problematizes and explores the conceptualizations of these tensions by considering personal relevance, disciplinary authenticity, and common school science as three…

In this study, we examine patterns of students' literacy and engagement in science associated with different levels of "inquiry-oriented" learning reported by students in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. To achieve this, we analyzed data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's 2006 Programme for International…

Using data from the Program for International Student Assessment 2006 surveys for 50 countries, this paper explores gender segregation of adolescent science career plans. We ask whether, in different cultures, bridging the male-female gap in science self-concept could reduce gender disparities in students' career preferences. Bringing together the…

Nearly 79,000 questions sent to an Internet-based Ask-A-Scientist site during the last decade were analyzed according to the surfer's age, gender, country of origin, and the year the question was sent. The sample demonstrated a surprising dominance of female contributions among K-12 students (although this dominance did not carry over to the full…

Responds to three articles from this issue on universalists versus multiculturalists. Explores the idea of an effective teacher as a culture broker. (SAH)

Comments on three articles in this issue on universalists versus multiculturalists. Supports teaching culturally relevant science. The three papers share the goal of improving the teaching of science to minority and non-minority children and increasing the participation of children of color in science. (SAH)

Comments on three articles in this issue on universalists versus multiculturalists. Discusses the importance in the United States of universalism versus relativism with regard to science. Discusses whether indigenous knowledge or traditional ecological knowledge should be considered with regard to science education. (SAH)

Introduces three articles that appear in this issue on universalism and multiculturalism. Describes the articles as having moved beyond the debate of multiculturalism and universalism by accepting that all systems of knowledge about nature are embedded within the context of a cultural group. (SAH)

This analysis of research conducted by graduate students at South African universities over the last 70 years is an attempt to identify the foci of South African science education research. Appropriate graduate degrees were systematically identified by interrogating electronic databases and verifying details. Title and abstract were then used to…

Describes a vignette of an American white teaching successfully in the Philippines and an American white teaching unsuccessfully in a Washington, DC, school. Although the lesson is the same, successful teaching comes from cultural preparation while in the second situation, the teacher did not recognize he was teaching in a different culture.…

This paper set emerged from an international symposium that aimed to shed light on issues associated with the enactment of inquiry both as means (i.e., inquiry as an instructional approach) and as ends (i.e., inquiry as a learning outcome) in precollege science classrooms. The symposium contributors were charged with providing perspectives from…

States that the relationship between mathematics and physics in the first year college level might be similar for populations from different national and cultural backgrounds. Reports student responses in two schools on topics covered by a mathematics test. The similarities and differences between the two groups are discussed. (YP)

In this study, students' views on the nature of science (NOS) were investigated with the use of a large-scale survey. An empirically derived multiple-choice format questionnaire was administered to 1702 Korean 6th, 8th, and 10th graders. The questionnaire consisted of five items that respectively examined students' views on five constructs…

Examined three teaching evaluation questionnaires from two foreign universities to determine the universality of staff teaching performance criteria. Concluded that questionnaires be designed in accordance with specific course objectives and that standard deviations of the questionnaire scores rather than average scores may be more informative…