JRST Special Issue On Bridging Science Education & Science Communication Research

The Journal of Research in Science Teaching (JRST), an international peer-reviewed science education journal, has put out a call for papers for their upcoming special issue on bridging science education and science communication research. While the fields of science education (which focuses primarily on K-12 students, higher education, and informal learning environments) and science communication (which focuses on STEM-based professionals and how their work is shared with the public) have much in common, the two disciplines do not currently have a shared space—in research or in practice—to communicate their findings and mutual needs. As the editors of the issue put it: The wheel is being invented multiple times. For example, the field of science communication moved from a ‘deficit model,’ which sets a standard for science knowledge based on an expert view and quantitatively measures the attainment of this standard, to the dialogic model of Public Engagement with Science. The latter model sees the generation of new public knowledge about science more as a dialogue between scientists and society. This shift echoes the tension in science education between a simple knowledge transfer model and construction of knowledge, and dialogic instead of authoritative teaching. Submissions for the journal are due January 10, 2014. The expected publication date is November 2014. Interested researchers should email one of the two guest editors with any inquiries: Ayelet Baram-Tsabari (Dept. of Education in Technology & Science, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Israel) at ayelet@technicon.ac.il or Stephen Norris (Director of the Centre for Research in Youth, Science, Teaching and Learning, Department of Educational Policy Studies, University of Alberta, Canada) at Stephen.norris@ualberta.ca.