The Natural World and Science Education in the United States

This book focuses on the representation of nature in science education in schools in the United States. Given the importance of our relationship with the nonhuman world for the fate of our planet, this work gives special attention to the representation, instruction, and understanding of the relationship between the social and the natural world. It also proposes an alternative, sustainability science-based conceptual framework for ecology and environmental science topics in science education, which is compatible with the current social-ecological understanding of life in the Anthropocene epoch.

Critiques the production of nature though school science to denormalize the dated representations for current and future students

Presents nature in ways that match current scientific understanding of life on Earth in current Anthropocene eraepoch of time that began when humans started to exert significant impact on the Earth's ecosystems on a global scale

Paves the way for improved curricular material, better preparation of science teachers and more scientifically accurate instruction about nature in schools

Auteur
Ajay Sharma is Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Theory and Practice at the University of Georgia, USA. His current research centers on explorations of representations of nature in science education as well as neoliberalism's impact on education.
Cory Buxton is UGA Athletic Association Professor of Education at the University of Georgia, USA. His expertise is in teaching and learning science with English learners and in science-centered language acquisition and teacher professional learning to support the simultaneous development of science inquiry practices and the disciplinary discourse of science.

Contenu

1. Introduction
   
   2. Evolving Views on the Nature of Nature
   3. The Intended Curriculum: Locating Nature in the Science Standards
   4. The Intended Curriculum: Nature as Represented in a Science Textbook
   5. The Enacted Curriculum: Representations of Nature in Science Teaching
   6. The Received Curriculum: Nature as Understood by Students
   7. A Sustainability Science based Framework for Science Education