International Perspectives on the Contextualization of Science Education

This book explores how science learning can be more relevant and interesting for students and teachers by using a contextualized approach to science education. The contributors explore the contextualization of science education from multiple angles, such as teacher education, curriculum design, assessment and educational policy, and from multiple national perspectives. The aim of this exploration is to provide and inspire new practical approaches to bring science education closer to the lives of students to accelerate progress towards global scientific literacy.

The book presents real life examples of how to make science relevant for children and adolescents of diverse ethnic and language backgrounds, socioeconomic status and nationalities, providing tools and guidance for teacher educators and researchers to improve the contextualization and cultural relevance of their practice. The book includes rigorous studies demonstrating that the contextualization of science learning environments is essential for student engagement in learning science and practitioners' reflections on how to apply this knowledge in the classroom and at national scale. This approach makes this book valuable for researchers and professors of science education and international education interested in designing teacher education courses that prepare future teachers to contextualize their teaching and in  adding a critical dimension to their research agendas. 

• science learning
• student engagement
• science teaching
• equity in science education
• place-based science education
• authentic science education
• indigenous students
• context in science education
• critical pedagogy
• learning environments
• learning and instruction

• UNICEF, New York, USA

  Ingrid Sánchez Tapia

 Dr. Sánchez Tapia is a researcher and practitioner working on international development with a focus on equity in education. Her research focuses on designing learning environments that support adolescents to develop STEM-related knowledge and skills, with an emphasis on marginalized groups because of ethnicity, language, and gender.  For over a decade Dr  Sánchez Tapia supported Ministries of Education in Latin America in their curricular reform efforts and national-level initiatives on science teacher professional development. Dr. Sánchez Tapia currently serves as UNICEF’s Education Specialist focusing on Gender Equality in education,  Secondary Education and STEM, supporting governments across the globe to improve their education systems to ensure that all children fulfill their right to education. She also contributes to the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI). Dr. Sánchez Tapia is an active member of the global science education community and advocate of approaches to science education that emphasize equity and traditional indigenous knowledge. 

Policies and ethics