Taking Back Science

As I am writing this editorial, the U.S. has just elected a new president. In a recent Newsweek article, Sharon Begley (2008) discusses how a climate of distrust of science has prevailed under the Bush administration. Global warming, stem cell programs, and even evaluations of sex education programs have all been under attack by an administration seemingly more interested in discrediting science to support its political agendas rather than in presenting more appropriate economic or moral arguments. Begley asserts that the negative attitude toward science and “inconvenient facts ” will take a great deal of work to undo. Compounding the problem, the Department of Education has severely limited acceptable program evaluations to those with experimental and quasi-experimental designs, approaches that are often poorly suited to understanding complex social interactions, like teaching and learning science. I am looking forward to an administration that will value scholarship and bring more credibility to science and science education research. I imagine most science education researchers (regardless of partisan affiliations) are feeling the same way. The work of science education researchers has never been more important, for both the U.S. and the world. Schools in the U.S. must begin to recover from an over-emphasis on high-stakes testing and the resulting reductionist pressure on curriculum. With renewed attention and energy will come renewed opportunities to implement improved instructional practices and professional development. Throughout the world, people face increasingly complex environmental, economic, and political challenges requiring thoughtful action by leaders and societies that understand and value scientific inquiry and data-driven decisions. All of these offer opportunities for science educators to better understand how school science can prepare us for the future. The articles in this issue represent a range, depth, and quality of science education research needed to take back a respect for science. They all explore way