New drivers for new science education highways

During the second half of the twentieth century we have witnessed the emergence of new scholarly disciplines and methods of inquiry that have shaped our images of science education. While I agree with Fensham that it may be time to change drivers, we also need to think carefully about the new highways being charted by new scientists and new science educators studying learning, teaching, and the design of learning environments. In my comments, I push the argument in two directions. First, I examine who are the scientists working in science education; then I ask who are science educators. There are new disciplines, scholars, and scientists studying the structures and processes of knowledge growth and development in individuals and among communities of learners. The change in focus involves moving from what we know to how we know and why we believe it. Helping teachers and school systems to shift the focus on science instruction from what to the how and the why requires new roads (i.e., curriculum, instruction and assessment models) as well as new drivers.