Particular social aspects of the nature of science (NOS), such as economics of, and entrepreneurship in science, are understudied in science education research. It is not surprising then that the practical applications, such as lesson resources and teaching materials, are scarce. The key aims of this article are to (a) synthesize perspectives from…

This article presents the author's response to Hisham B. Ghassib's article entitled "Where Does Creativity Fit into a Productivist Industrial Model of Knowledge Production?" Ghassib (2010) outlines a Productivist Industrial Model of Knowledge Production, in which he calls the knowledge enterprise an industry in which creativity and innovation play…

In this interesting article, Hisham Ghassib (2010) describes the transformation of science from its craft status in a pre-modern era to the major knowledge industry it is today. He then compares the production of scientific knowledge with industrial production, but makes the important distinction between the process of developing scientific…

This article of empirical and interpretive nature aims to offer a contribution to the discussion of "Incubators" as research spaces in the formation of the novice researcher. It is a product of reflections carried out by the authors on the subject and discussions carried out with undergraduate and graduate young people who aspire to be…

A handful of technological episodes: fire, wheel and axle, Industrial Revolution, Faraday's discovery of electromagnetic induction, the transistor, and the digital age, have historically altered humanity. We are now witnessing/participating in the next transformational technology: 3D printing. Although dating back nearly 30 years, the technology…

Crab cakes and football, that's what Maryland does!" (Abrams, Levy, Panay, & Dobkin, 2005). Although the Old Line State is notorious for harvesting delectable blue crabs, the movie "Wedding Crashers" failed to highlight something else Maryland does well: engineering design competitions. This article discusses how a multistate…

The green chemistry course taught at Westminster College (PA) incorporates nontraditional teaching techniques and texts to educate future chemists about the importance of using green chemistry principles. The course is designed to introduce green chemistry concepts and demonstrate their inherent necessity by discussing historical missteps by the…

A classic TV commercial once asked, "How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop?" The narrator claims, "The world may never know" (Tootsie Roll 2012), but an Internet search returns a multitude of answers, some of which include rigorous systematic approaches by academics to address the…

Because fossil fuels are a nonrenewable resource, alternative sources of chemical carbon will be necessary as petroleum based chemicals decline during the 21st century. Carbon dioxide can serve as a source of carbon for the synthesis of useful chemicals, thereby contributing to a sustainable chemical industry. A promising technology for…

This article presents the author's response to Hisham B. Ghassib's (2010) article entitled "Where Does Creativity Fit into a Productivist Industrial Model of Knowledge Production?" When the author tries to characterise Ghassib's (2010) world, three words come into mind: University, Scientific Knowledge, and Marx. The author's world on the other…

This essay discusses the effectiveness of a graduate course for physics students, with a course goal to write a publishable article on a modern research topic (graphene). I analyze the tools used to this end, which included Web 2.0 methods, in-class discussions and presentations, as well as extensive peer-review. In addition to producing a…

Refereed journals in science and medicine are the gatekeepers and repositories of knowledge in their respective fields. Research reported in peer-reviewed journals builds professional careers, determines which drugs and medical devices are licensed, influences what medical treatments become standards of care, and establishes the veracity of…

In her article, "The Scientification of Skin Whitening and the Entrepreneurial University- Linked Corporate Scientific Officer," published in this issue, Amina Mire (2012) deconstructs the tacit investments implicit in such discourses of beauty, in particular those linked to cosmetic products that purport to fight the "war on aging" through the…

NASA and astronaut Patrick Forrester recently teamed up with Clemson University's College of Health Education and Human Development (HEHD) to promote STEM teaching and learning in the Upstate (SC) community. A goal of HEHD is to extend integrative STEM education opportunities to all teachers and their students in South Carolina. NASA space…

Celebrating its 350th anniversary as a scholarly association devoted to scientific pursuits, the Royal Society (UK), in March 2010, published "The Scientific Century: Securing Our Future Prosperity." In its report, the Royal Society argues against both the notion of withdrawing public investment from its world-class universities and the…