One important way of describing the teaching of science in schools is as a process whereby students reconstruct their understandings in undergoing conceptual change. How to help teachers to promote conceptual change in an effective way in their classrooms is now a central concern of research groups in a number of countries and reflects the way curriculum development is being understood and approached. It is in contrast with the forms of curriculum development that took place in the 1960s and 1970s in which project teams outside schools developed and promoted a course and a package of related materials.

This introductory article to the Special Issue of the International Journal of Science Education attempts to review the theoretical contexts for research into children’s conceptions in science and to identify future directions for research programmes in this field.

This chapter presents a constructivist perspective on learning in science and discusses the implications of this perspective for teaching and learning in classrooms.

Discusses the constructivist view of learning which emphasizes, among others, learning outcomes which depend not only on the learning environment but also on the knowledge of the learner. Implications for science instruction are also addressed.

What is our view of science? What is our view of the learning process? How can understanding of these issues help address problems of science education in schools? These are the questions that Driver and Bell address in this classic article. Science, they say, is about the ideas, concepts, and theories used to interpret the world. They then elaborate on six key aspects of the constructivist view of learning, using examples from science classrooms to illustrate the principles. The principles state that learning outcomes depend on what the learner already knows; learning involves constructing meanings; learning is a continuous and active process; meanings are evaluated and accepted or rejected; learners have responsibility for their learning; and some meanings are shared. Adopting a constructivist view of learning has implications for science education, including the importance of understanding students’ prior assumptions; of providing opportunities for students to reflect, have new experiences, and construct meaning; of revising the curriculum to be more developmentally appropriate; and of examining the conceptions which are most useful for students.

Excerpt: Over the last decade the teaching of science in secondary schools in the UK has been under scrutiny. Surveys undertaken on behalf of the Assessment of Performance Unit report the levels of performance attained by a national sample of pupils in a range of measures and point out, among other things, some of the difficulties that secondary school pupils have in understanding certain scientific ideas. In addition studies of secondary science classrooms including the survey undertaken by HMI suggest that didactic teaching methods still tend to predominate especially in upper secondary classes. When the Secondary Science Curriculum Review was instigated to address a number of issues in the teaching of science in secondary schools the Children’s Learning in Science Project was set up to work in collaboration with the Review. The intention was to develop revised teaching approaches which would be informed by research on children’s thinking in science and current theoretical developments in cognition. In particular we identify three potentially fruitful theoretical developments which suggest the need for rethinking our approach to teaching and learning science.

The view that knowledge cannot be transmitted but must be constructed by the mental activity of learners underpins contemporary perspectives on science education. This article, which presents a theoretical perspective on teaching and learning science in the social setting of classrooms, is informed by a view of scientific knowledge as socially constructed and by a perspective on the learning of science as knowledge construction involving both individual and social processes. First, we present an overview of the nature of scientific knowledge. We then describe two major traditions in explaining the process of learning science: personal and social constructivism. Finally, we illustrate how both personal and social perspectives on learning, as well as perspectives on the nature of the scientific knowledge to be learned, are necessary in interpreting science learning in formal settings.