Through a critical textual analysis of the content and structure of the new Australian science curriculum, in this paper I identify the values it encourages and those that are absent. I investigate whether the Australian science curriculum is likely to promote the attitudes needed to educate generations of children who act more responsibly with…

Can science curricula truly cultivate morals and values towards nature? This is the question that is raised by Carolina Castano Rodriguez in her critique of the new Australian Science curriculum. In this response to Castano Rodriguez's paper we ask two questions relating to: the influence of curricula on the relationships of children and other…

Modern biotechnology has a large and rapidly increasing impact on society. New advances in genetics, stem cells and other areas hold great potential for human health but also presenting socioscientific issues that commonly divide public opinion. While knowledge is necessary to develop informed opinions about biotechnology, they may also be…

Describes scientific thought as a type of goal-directed behavior and its product and discusses its nature in terms of that goal and means appropriate for achieving it. Discusses the Galilean-Newtonian paradigm, empiricism, the idea that scientific thought has philosophical foundations, and the scientific status of human sciences. (Author/JRH)

Although results of both formative and summative evaluation can be used for planning the next generation of a curriculum, a need exists for a third kind of evaluation, namely, Pre-Planning Evaluation (PPE). The purpose of PPE is to provide a database to curriculum development deliberations to assist in decision-making and to guard against neglect…