Science Education Research in the Knowledge-Based Society

We are pleased to present the ESERA 2001 Conference book, which is based on contributions submitted and presented to the Third International Conference "Science Education Research in the Knowledge Based Society" that was organised by the Department of Primary Education of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and held in Thessaloniki from August 21 to August 26, 2001. The focus of the Conference was to discuss the scope, methods, outcomes and perspectives of research in science education in the context of the rapidly developing knowledge-based society. Some 450 researchers, teachers, and postgraduate students attended the conference. They came mainly from European countries, with a substantial proportion - some 20- from countries outside Europe. While ESERA conferences reflect research carried out in Europe, they are increasingly becoming international events attracting researchers from all over the world. A total of 220 works were presented in guest lectures, symposia, poster workshops, individual papers and poster sessions that took place during the conference along with alternative activities and informal meetings. All these of the Conference (edited by works are already published in the Proceedings D. Psillos, P. Kariotoglou, V.Tselfes, G.Bisdikian, G.Fassoulopoulos, E. Hatzikraniotis, M.Kallery).

1: Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to Science Education Research.- Presidential Address: What can we reasonably expect of research in science education?.- Constructivism in science education: The need for a clear line of demarcation.- Overviews of the Research Presented at ESERA 2001.- On the methodology of ‘phenomenography’ as a science education research tool.- Conversation Theory and self-learning.- Analysis of video data of secondary school science students.- Longitudinal studies — providing insight into individual themes in science learning and students’ views of their own learning.- Changing referential perspective in science classroom discourse.- 2:Learning and Understanding Science.- Students’ positions in physics education. A gendered perspective.- Situated conceptions and obstacles. The example of digestion/excretion.- About some of the difficulties in learning Thermodynamics at the University Level.- Metacognitive Experiences in the Domain of Physics: Developmental and Educational Aspects.- How children reason from data to conclusions in practical science investigations.- Mechanistic reasoning on the concept of wave surface, and on the Huygens principle.- Atomic Physics in Upper Secondary School: Layers of Conceptions in Individual Cognitive Structure.- The electric current on its way to our house and the parallel connection of the electric appliances: primary students’ (11–12) representations.- Detailed Investigation of Professional Physicists Solving Physics Tasks.- Learning from writing in secondary science: A case study of students’ composing strategies.- Seventh-grade pupils’ epistemic views in the context of model-based instruction.- Nonlinear Analysis of the Effect of Working-Memory Capacity on Student Performance in Problem Solving.- The Nature Of Growth In Children’s Science Understandings: Insights From A Longitudinal Study.- HOCS Problem solving Vs. LOCS exercise solving: What do college science students prefer?.- 3 :Teaching and Communicating Science.- Science and Technology Education: A high priority political concern in Europe.- A mesoscopic model of liquids for teaching fluids statics.- The importance of weightlessness and tides in teaching gravitation.- Making decisions about biological conservation issues in peer group discussion.- Discourse in the laboratory: quality in argumentative and epistemic operations.- Modelling the evolution of teaching -learning sequences: From discovery to constructivism.- Nonlinear Physics in Upper Physics Classes: Educational Reconstruction as a Frame for Development and Research in a Study of Teaching and Learning Basic Ideas of Nonlinearity.- Promoting Understanding through Representational Redescription: an exploration referring to young pupils’ ideas about gravity.- Different types of classroom debates on biotechnology. Are these simply an exercise in rhetoric or do they encourage a well-founded critical attitude?.- 4: Science Education and Information and Communication Technologies.- WISE Research — Promoting International Collaboration.- Research about the use of information technology in science education.- Physics Learning and Microcomputer Based Laboratory (MBL) — Learning effects of using MBL as a technological and as a cognitive tool.- Phenomenographical Approach to Design for a Hypertext Teacher’s Guide to MBL.- Application of a framework appropriate for a multilevel assessment of educational multimedia software in science (FEVES).- Brain Research in Science Education Research.- Computer modelling and simulation in science lessons: using research into teachers’ transformations to inform training.- 5: Science Teachers: Knowledge and Practices.- Exploring science teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge.- Relating research in didactics and actual teaching practice: impact and virtues of critical details.- Transforming the Standard Instrument for Assessing Science Teacher’s Self-Efficacy Beliefs (STEBI) For Use in Denmark.- Teachers’ confidence in primary science and teacher-student interactions.- Teachers’ views and attitudes towards the communication code and the rhetoric used in press science articles.- Science teachers’ perceptions of the current situation of planetary emergency.- 6: International Research and Development Projects.- A European Research Project for New Challenges in Science Teacher Training.- Quality Development Projects in Science Education.- Video-Based Studies on Investigating Deficiencies of School Science Teaching.- Authors Index.