Eighth International School On Mind, Brain And Education
2013 July 30 - August 04
Science Education
in the Digital Era
Directors: Antonio M. Battro, Kurt W. Fischer and Diego Golombek
Program officer: María Lourdes Majdalani
Teachers College, Columbia University, USA
Scientific thinking: What develops and what needs to develop?
The Next Generation Science Standards just published in the USA emphasize not just content but "Science Practices" as a key aspect of what students need to acquire. These practices are identified, however, only in the broadest terms. In practice, both in classrooms and in educational research, the focus has been a narrow one consisting largely of basic experimental design and control of variables. What more needs to develop to achieve scientific literacy and how do we go about accomplishing this objective?