In this paper, we argue that the current science curricula are failing to educate students to be competent outsiders to science. Historically, science education has rested on two premises. The first is that it is possible for students to acquire sufficient scientific knowledge from K-12 education to become intellectually independent. That is that…

In this article, we argue for a new rationale for the science curriculum that is more coherent and more useful than the crosscutting concepts of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). In an effort to provide both clarity and justification for the science curriculum, we contend that a framework based on the idea that there are six…

In this article, we put forward a new approach to the teaching of scientific reasoning in biology with the "Next Generation Science Standards" ("NGSS"). We argue that a framework based on the idea of six styles of scientific reasoning provides the best guide for biology teachers to the nature of scientific reasoning in biology…

In this response, I argue that Hodson and Wong's (2017) (see EJ1133274) critique of the consensus view, though valid, lacks a sufficiently detailed and elaborated alternative. Their emphasis on practice fails to define what the goals of engaging in practice might be. In contrast, the picture of science offered as consisting of six different…

This paper provides a rationale for the changes advocated by the Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards. It provides an argument for why the model embedded in the Next Generation Science Standards is seen as an improvement. The Case made here is that the underlying model that the new Framework presents of…

This article is a version of the talk given by Jonathan Osborne as the Association for Science Education (ASE) invited lecturer at the National Science Teachers' Association Annual Convention in San Francisco, USA, in April 2011. The article provides an explanatory justification for teaching about the practices of science in school science that…

The present theoretical paper presents a case for the use of narrative (i.e., fictional written text) in science education as a way of making science meaningful, relevant, and accessible to the public. Grounded in literature pointing to the value of narrative in supporting learning and the need to explore new modes of communicating science, this…

This article offers a review of the major literature about attitudes to science and its implications over the past 20 years. It argues that the continuing decline in numbers choosing to study science at the point of choice requires a research focus on students' attitudes to science if the nature of the problem is to be understood and remediated.…

One aim of the Evidence-based Practice in Science Education (EPSE) Network was to obtain a better understanding of the extent to which practitioners in science education recognise and make use of research findings in the course of their normal practice. The aim was realised through an interview and focus-group study of views of practitioners on…

In this paper, we report work undertaken with a group of 11 UK teachers over a period of a year to teach aspects of the nature of science, its process, and its practices. The teachers, who taught science in a mix of elementary, junior high, and high schools, were asked to teach a set of "ideas-about-science" for which consensual support…