Theorizing the Future of Science Education Research

Vaughan Prain is a Professor in Science Interdisciplinary Education Research, Deakin University, Australia.  His research focus is on innovative teaching and learning approaches in primary and secondary science. Initially he focused on the role of writing for learning, and more recently on students engaging with representational affordances within and across visual, spatial, linguistic, mathematical and embodied modes in constructing accounts of scientific processes and claims. Brian Hand is a Distinguished Professor of Science Education at the University of Iowa. He started his career as a chemistry and physics teacher (11 years) before moving into higher education. He has developed a strong research interest in writing and science argument. His focus has been on implementing the Science Writing Heuristic approach to learning for which he has been able to get a series of major grants to explore classroom implementation of the approach.

“The book is well organized and structured. … the book proposes … a huge amount of new experimental data, many new interesting ideas, and solutions … . the book may be recommended as an excellent resource and background for further studies for a wide range of scientists in fields of education, cognitive and social psychology, and cultural, social, and crisis anthropology, as well as for experts and policymakers in education, who are involved in the strategic planning of science education.” (Yuriy Kostyuchenko, Victor Pushkar and Mohamed Abioui, Science & Education, Vol. 30, 2021)

• 1.Introduction: Theorizing future research for the science classroom; Vaughan Prain and Brian Hand.- SECTION ONE: Mapping the Big Picture.- 2. Merging cognitive and sociocultural approaches: Towards better understandings of the processes of developing thinking and reasoning; Paul Webb and Bill Whitlow.- 3. Frameworks, Committed Testers, and Science as a Form of Life; Jim Gee.- 4. Writers in Community Model: 15 Recommendations for Future Research in Using Writing to Promote Science Learning; Steve Graham.- SECTION TWO: Theorizing Aspects of Science Learning.- 5. An Exploratory Neuroimaging Study of Argumentative and Summary Writing Using Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy; Richard Lamb, Brian Hand and Sae Yeol Yoon.- 6. Scientific Practices as an Actor-Network of Literacy Events: Forging a Convergence between Disciplinary Literacy and Scientific Practices; Kok-Sing Tang.- 7. Immersive approaches to science argumentation and literacy: What does it mean to “live” the languages of science?; Brian Hand, Andy Cavagnetto, and Lori Norton-Meier.- 8. Writing as an Epistemological Tool: Perspectives from personal, disciplinary, and sociocultural landscapes; Ying-Chih Chen.- 9. Scientific Literacy Practices from a concept of Discourse Space: Focusing on Resources and Demands for Learning; Sae Yeol Yoon.- 10. Future research in learning with, through and from scientific representations;  Vaughan Prain.- 11.  “I’m not a writer”: Shaping the literacy-related attitudes and beliefs of students and teachers in STEM disciplines; Lisa Emerson.- SECTION THREE: Review.- 12. Critical dialogues for emerging research agendas in science education; Greg Kelly.