Ebook: Second International Handbook of Science Education

The International Handbook of Science Education is a two volume edition pertaining to the most significant issues in science education. It is a follow-up to the first Handbook, published in 1998, which is seen as the most authoritative resource ever produced in science education. The chapters in this edition are reviews of research in science education and retain the strong international flavor of the project. It covers the diverse theories and methods that have been a foundation for science education and continue to characterize this field.

Each section contains a lead chapter that provides an overview and synthesis of the field and related chapters that provide a narrower focus on research and current thinking on the key issues in that field. Leading researchers from around the world have participated as authors and consultants to produce a resource that is comprehensive, detailed and up to date. The chapters provide the most recent and advanced thinking in science education making the Handbook again the most authoritative resource in science education.

More than 100 leading scholars from the global science education community contributed 96 chapters in 11 sections of the Second International Handbook of Science Education, which contains a synthesis of cutting edge research that picks up from where the inaugural Handbook left off. Some sections build from the first Handbook, whereas others address issues that have arisen in the new millennium. Innovative theoretical frameworks, research methods, and research foci are addressed along with new approaches to persistent problems. The sections that comprise the Second International Handbook of Science Education are: sociocultural perspectives and urban education; learning and conceptual change; teacher education and professional development; equity and social justice; assessment and evaluation; curriculum and reform; argumentation and nature of science; out-of-school learning; learning environments; literacy and language; and research methods. Leading scholars in science education present diverse perspectives and robust methods that highlight what we know in a given area, what needs to be done next, and implications for policy and practice. The way in which the Handbook features difference reflects an editorial standpoint that differences are resources for positively transforming science education while at the same time accurately reflecting the potential of science education at the present time.