This book considers how post-secondary chemistry education can be advanced in developing countries, in order to respond to emerging global, regional, and local needs. Taking Guyana as a case study, it pays particular attention to local challenges facing such territories, including human and financial resource shortages, tension between quality and quantity of graduates, cultural inequalities, unequal access to increasingly important Information and Communication Technology or Technologies (ICTs), and increasing competition from international universities in the developed world. Written by a team with over 70 years in combined teaching experience, it asks whether these challenges can be met and overcome and considers how tertiary chemistry education can better meet the rapidly changing needs of society. The authors examine the status quo of tertiary chemistry education in Guyana against the introductory backdrop of the internal and external stresses on the education system, before exploring selected best practices grounded in a three-pronged model focused on pedagogy, programming, and people. Advancing diversity on each of these levels, the book ultimately shows how this framework can support better learning and teaching, and the development of a better equipped and more diverse Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) workforce. It will appeal to scholars, researchers, graduate students, and tertiary level curriculum developers in chemistry education, interested in an innovative, holistic approach for transforming chemistry teaching that focuses on pedagogical diversity, strategic co-curricular programming, and accommodating diversity and diverse learning styles in the classroom.

As teachers we often tend to expect other countries to teach chemistry in much the same way as we do, but educational systems differ widely. At Bielefeld University we started a project to analyse the approach to chemical education in different countries from all over the world: Teaching Chemistry around the World. 25 countries have participated in the project. The resulting country studies are presented in this book. This book may be seen as a contribution to make the structure of chemistry teaching in numerous countries more transparent and to facilitate communication between these countries. Especially in the case of the school subject chemistry, which is very unpopular on the one hand and occupies an exceptional position on the other hand – due to its relevance to jobs and everyday life and most notably due to its importance for innovation capacity and problem solving – we have to learn from each others’ educational systems.

This book focuses on developing and updating prospective and practicing chemistry teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge. The 11 chapters of the book discuss the most essential theories from general and science education, and in the second part of each of the chapters apply the theory to examples from the chemistry classroom. Key sentences, tasks for self-assessment, and suggestions for further reading are also included. The book is focused on many different issues a teacher of chemistry is concerned with. The chapters provide contemporary discussions of the chemistry curriculum, objectives and assessment, motivation, learning difficulties, linguistic issues, practical work, student active pedagogies, ICT, informal learning, continuous professional development, and teaching chemistry in developing environments. This book, with contributions from many of the world’s top experts in chemistry education, is a major publication offering something that has not previously been available. Within this single volume, chemistry teachers, teacher educators, and prospective teachers will find information and advice relating to key issues in teaching (such as the curriculum, assessment and so forth), but contextualised in terms of the specifics of teaching and learning of chemistry, and drawing upon the extensive research in the field. Moreover, the book is written in a scholarly style with extensive citations to the literature, thus providing an excellent starting point for teachers and research students undertaking scholarly studies in chemistry education; whilst, at the same time, offering insight and practical advice to support the planning of effective chemistry teaching. This book should be considered essential reading for those preparing for chemistry teaching, and will be an important addition to the libraries of all concerned with chemical education. Dr Keith S. Taber (University of Cambridge; Editor: Chemistry Education Research and Practice) The highly regarded collection of authors in this book fills a critical void by providing an essential resource for teachers of chemistry to enhance pedagogical content knowledge for teaching modern chemistry. Through clever orchestration of examples and theory, and with carefully framed guiding questions, the book equips teachers to act on the relevance of essential chemistry knowledge to navigate such challenges as context, motivation to learn, thinking, activity, language, assessment, and maintaining professional expertise. If you are a secondary or post-secondary teacher of chemistry, this book will quickly become a favorite well-thumbed resource! Professor Hannah Sevian (University of Massachusetts Boston)

In August 2003 over 400 researchers in the field of science education from all over the world met at the 4th ESERA conference in Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands. During the conference 300 papers about actual issues in the field, such as the learning of scientific concepts and skills, scientific literacy, informal science learning, science teacher education, modeling in science education were presented. The book contains 40 of the most outstanding papers presented during the conference. These papers reflect the quality and variety of the conference and represent the state of the art in the field of research in science education.

This book sheds new light on the importance of Black representation in the US science curriculum from a social, cultural, cognitive, and scientific perspective. Weaving together content, new methodologies, and science education pedagogies, it opens up new space for the meaningful inclusion of the science capital and cultural capital of Black people in the US science curricula. Drawing on ethnographic interviews with African American Gullah-Geechee and research outcomes from qualitative and quantitative research and curriculum development, it brings home the importance of attending to a sense of belonging in the K-12 science curricula toward lasting equity and inclusion. The author uses applied cognitive psychology theories as frameworks to show how perceptions about the perceived value of Black representation as a way of knowing is influenced by identity, culture, and social schemas. Incorporating new methodologies and approaches focused on inclusion and belonging, it will appeal to scholars, researchers, upper-level and post-graduate students with interest in STEM education, race and ethnicity in education, equity, and research methods in education.

Through examining the theoretical ideas of disciplinarity and disciplinary practices, the book presents instructional aspects for teachers to explore when engaged with integrated STEM inquiry. Are you interested to understand the difference between science inquiry and STEM inquiry? Do you want to introduce integrated STEM problem solving to your students but need help with the key features of STEM inquiry? This book presents in-depth discussions related to the features and affordances of integrated STEM inquiry. Written for K-12 teachers and teacher educators, this book conceptualises STEM inquiry and integrated STEM and their enactment, using three practical STEM instructional frameworks: problem-centric, solution/design-centric, and user-centric STEM. The three STEM instructional frameworks serve as a key anchor for teachers to interpret and apply when planning various STEM lessons in meaningful, practical, and coherent ways. Whether you are an aspiring K-12 STEM teacher or an in-service teacher teaching K-12 students, the ideas of integrated STEM inquiry presented in this book challenge educators to think about the principles of integrated STEM inquiry and how they can be incorporated into classroom practice and lessons.