A growing body of research demonstrates the value of asking students to write about science for authentic purposes. But which purposes--and, just as importantly, whose purposes--count as authentic? In this theoretical article, we review several conceptions of authentic purpose drawn from science education and literacy education and use these to…

This manuscript reflects on the affordances and limitations of methodological approaches commonly adopted by science education researchers examining learner identities. Our aims are to unpack the relative strengths and weaknesses of such approaches and note their respective prevalence. In so doing, we identify and critique studies which we…

This research envisioned as its main objective the comprehension of the process of knowledge production concerning the Afro-Brazilian boldo ("Plectranthus barbatus Andrews"), with the contributions from both scientists and the Afro-Brazilian people. As specific objectives, we attempted to reconstruct the research pathways traveled by…

Hydraulic fracturing ('fracking'), like other complex social and environmental issues, is a controversy about science which raises educational questions about how best to prepare young people to understand, respond to and, where necessary, act (or not) in response. It raises political questions. We present a state-of-the-art review of research…

For those interested in understanding cultures of learning in both formal and informal science educational contexts, ethnography is often the research approach of choice. Yet ethnography, as a research approach, is far from monolithic. The myriad of nuances, distinctions, and open questions of ethnographic research, employed as full-scale…

The focus of this article is to expand María del Mar Aragón, José Antonio Acevedo-Díaz and Antonio García-Carmona's paper "Prospective Biology teachers' understanding of the nature of science through an analysis of the historical case of Semmelweis and childbed fever" by focusing on the discussion about teaching non-epistemic aspects of…

Scientific media education is the ability to draw on a knowledge of the media and science, in order to choose, understand, evaluate, and respond to representations of science across diverse media genres. We begin this manuscript by reviewing research that shows scientific media education is one of the most important content areas that could be…

This review essay focuses on Özgür Taskin's discussion of the theory of evolution (TOE), intelligent design (ID) and the convictions of fundamentalist science educators and students in his paper entitled: "An exploratory examination of Islamic values in science education: Islamization of science teaching and learning via…

This paper reviews and synthesizes urban science education studies published between 2000 and 2013 with a view to identifying current challenges faced by both teachers and students in urban classrooms. Additionally, this paper considers the historical events that have shaped the conditions, bureaucracies, and interactions of urban institutions.…

In this paper we initially address the main categories of Marxism, illustrating how Vygotsky has appropriated them as mediational meta-theoretical tools for building concepts for his psychological approach. In order to investigate the influence of Marxism in cultural studies of science education, we make an account of how current research,…

In this review, I explore the affordances of Wolff-Michael Roth and Pei-Ling Hsu's article, "Space, relations and the learning of science" which brings attention to a largely unexplored area of science education research--the importance of spatial organization within the laboratory. This forum piece examines the four components of…

This qualitative theoretical study was conducted in response to the current need for an inclusive and comprehensive model to guide the preparation and assessment of teacher candidates for culturally responsive teaching. The process of developing a model of culturally responsive teaching involved three steps: a comprehensive review of the…