This forum explores and expands on Ben-Zvi Assaraf, Eshach, Orion, and Alamour's article titled "Cultural Differences and Students' Spontaneous Models of the Water Cycle: A Case Study of Jewish and Bedouin Children in Israel" by examining how indigenous knowledge is appropriated in science classrooms; how students from indigenous students'…

Current discourses about science education show a wide concern towards humanisation and a more socio-cultural perspective of school science. They suggest that science education can serve diverse purposes and be responsive to social and environmental situations we currently face. However, these discourses and social approaches to science education…

In this article, we report on a study of how creative linguistic practices (which we call "hybrid discourse practices") were enacted by students in a fifth-grade science unit on barn owls and how these practices helped to produce a synergistic micro-community of scientific practice in the classroom that constituted a fertile space for students…

An empirical study on 12th-grade students' engagement on a global warming debate as a citizens' conference is reported. Within the design-based research methodology, an interdisciplinary teaching sequence integrating an initiation to non-violent communication was developed. Students' debates were analyzed according to three dimensions:…

The focus of this response to Virginie Albe and Marie-Jose Gombert's (2011) article on a research study of students' school science conference on global warming is to develop some thoughts on covert assumptions which underpin any such conference. My comments refer to the politics behind the production of scientific knowledge of climate change and…

Expanding on some ideas introduced in the paper by Albe and Gombert (2012) "Students' communication, argumentation and knowledge in a citizen' conference on global warming", I explore two issues relevant to their work: global warming (GW) as a socioscientific controversy and scientific literacy in regards to climate change science. For the first…

This paper attempts to add to the multifaceted discussion concerning neoliberalism and globalization out of two Cultural Studies of Science Education journal issues along with the recent Journal of Research in Science Teaching devoted to these topics. However, confronting the phenomena of globalization and neoliberalism will demand greater…

In this issue, I draw together two sets of papers, with apparently different agendas. Most of the original papers in this issue use various learning perspectives and research approaches to explore the challenges and affordances of digital games for learning science. Associated forum papers challenge the authors and us to critically examine our own…

The major focus of this ethnographic study is devoted to exploring the confluence of global and local referents of science education in the context of an urban chemistry laboratory classroom taught by a first-generation Filipino-American male teacher. This study investigates encounters between the teacher and four second-generation immigrant…

Even during an era of cultural globalization where diversity, hybridity, and heterogeneity prevail, educational institutions remain unchanged and economically and racially marginalized students continue to experience a sense of exclusion in school. Whereas the science education community often addresses such exclusion in terms of the achievement…

Teaching decisions made "in the moment" do not often allow for deliberate, well thought through actions by teachers. Sometimes we are conscious of the options that are available and we do make deliberate decisions. We may even be aware of the values impinging on our decision, but for many other aspects embedded in our teaching, deeper influences…

Environmental educators are challenged by how to teach children about global environmental crisis such as the Gulf oil spill, which only serves to engender children's fears and apprehensions about the negative impact of humans on ecosystems. Eduardo Dopico and Eva Garcia-Vazquez's article presents an interesting context from which to analyze and…

One of the central challenges globalization and immigration present to education is how to construct school language policies, procedures, and curricula to support academic success of immigrant youth. This case-study compares and contrasts language experience narratives along Elena's developmental trajectory of becoming an urban science teacher.…

This paper is written in response to a paper by Maria Rivera on issues of language and identity. I give an autobiographical account of my own experiences in relation to language identity and colonialism. I relate language and issues of alienation during the colonial time and I reflect on how that past is still currently distorting the way we look…

We examine the research conducted by Kang, Anderson and Wu by discussing it in a larger context of science museum-school partnerships. We review how the disconnect that exists between stakeholders, the historical and cultural contexts in which formal and informal institutions are situated, and ideas of globalization, mediate the success for…