Teaching and Learning Science consists of sixty-six chapters written by more than ninety leading educators and scientists. The contributions are informed by cutting-edge theory and research and address numerous issues that are central to K 12 education. This resource will be particularly valuable for parents and teachers as schools around the country prepare students to meet the challenges presented when science is added to the No Child Left Behind Act in 2007. These insightful contributions touch on many of the most controversial topics facing science educators and students today, including evolution, testing, homeschooling, ecology, and the achievement gaps faced by girls, children of color, and ESL learners. Accessible and full of insight, the set is written for teachers, parents, and students, and offers a wealth of resources germane to K-12 settings. The book is arranged according to themes that are central to science education: language and scientific literacy, home and school relationships, equity, new roles for teachers and students, connecting science to other areas of the curriculum, resources for teachers and learners, and science in the news. The authors address controversial topics such as evolution, and present alternative ways to think about teaching, learning, the outcomes of science education, and issues associated with high stakes testing. In addition, relationships between science and literacy are explored in terms of art and science, making sense of visuals in textbooks, reading, writing, children's literature, and uses of comics to represent science. Chapters also address how to teach contemporary science, including the origin of the chemical elements, the big bang, hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanoes, and tsunamis.

How might science education reflect the values of a socially just and democratic society? How do urban youth living in poverty construct science in their lives in ways that are enriching, empowering, and transformative? Using a combination of in-depth case studies and rigorous theory, this volume: Offers a series of teaching stories that describes youth's practices of science, providing valuable insight to help teachers work with inner-city youth. Explores the importance of inclusiveness, membership rules, and the purposes and goals of good science, including utility, pragmatism, and doing good for others. Shows how science connects to the lives of youth both in and out of school. Builds on and critiques current reform initiatives in science education. Features stories taken from six years of teaching and research in after-school science programs with children and youth in homeless shelters. Illustrates how the children's unique situations framed their constructions of science in compelling and challenging ways.