Science and Technology Education

The Science and Technology Education Group (STEG) is internationally recognised as a centre of excellence in science education. Since the 1970s, staff including Paul Black, Rosalind Driver, Jonathan Osborne, Rick Duschl, Margaret Cox, Michael Shayer and Philip Adey have made major contributions to science and technology education research and to science education in schools. The current head of the group is Dr Justin Dillon, President of the European Science Education Research Association.

STEG\'s research is organised into six themes:

- Learning Science in Informal Contexts.
- Science and Environmental Education.
- Argumentation, Scientific Literacy and the Science Curriculum.
- Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education.
- Teaching Enquiry and Assessment for Learning.
- ICT and Science Education.

We have programmes of research in teaching and learning science in both formal and informal contexts and in teacher professional development at both Masters and Doctoral level.

Learning Science in Informal Contexts
Our involvement with research in learning science in informal contexts goes back many years. We were a member of the US National Science Foundation funded ($11m) Center for Informal Learning and Schools (CILS). Our partners in CILS were the San Francisco Exploratorium and the University of California Santa Cruz. CILS funded eight doctoral students and five research associates at King\'s who investigated ways of enhancing the contribution of school visits to science learning; developed theoretically and empirically understandings of interactions with exhibits; and critically examined professionalism in museums. A feature of our work in this area is collaboration with practitioners. For instance, the research has contributed to the redevelopment of the Science Museum\'s Launch Pad gallery and to the evaluation of public engagement in the Natural History Museum. Within the college, we have worked with the Work, Interaction and Technology Group, led by Christian Heath and with Dr Mark Miodownik and the Materials Library. We have evaluated an innovative iPod tour of the Tate Modern, worked with scientists taking part in the Royal Society\'s Summer Exhibition and played a key role in the setting up of the Permanent European Resource Centre for Informal Learning (the PENCIL project).

Science and Environmental Education
Our work on environmental education has focused on outdoor teaching and learning. Working with colleagues at the National Foundation for Educational Research and the University of Bath, staff have undertaken empirical research and carried out literature reviews for DfES (now the DCSF), the Field Studies Council, the Countryside Agency (now part of Natural England), Farming and Countryside Education (FACE) and many other organisations.

Our research has extended understanding of how teachers are prepared to teach outside the classroom, what teaching strategies appear to be effective and how environmental educators can improve their own practices through action research. Recently, we were involved in a national survey that looked at how teachers were prepared to teach in the outdoor classroom. Our most recent project, \'Thinking Beyond the Urban Classroom\' was made possible by a grant of £63k from the AstraZeneca Science Teaching Trust and it involves the development of innovative teaching materials for use in outdoor science at Key Stage 3.

Argumentation, Scientific Literacy and the Science Curriculum
We have established a programme of research, funded by the ESRC, which has shown that it is possible to improve the use and quality of argumentation by students in school. Our work has made significant contributions to developing a framework for analysing the use of argument in science and to establishing its importance as a field of study. The Nuffield Foundation funded the production of a set of DVD-based materials for teachers\' professional development which have been translated into five languages. We have recently been awarded £654,000 by the ESRC to develop our work on argumentation.

\'Beyond 2000: Science Education for the Future\' argued for science education to focus on scientific literacy. These arguments have been extended by a systematic review of students\' attitudes to school science and by a Delphi study, again funded by the ESRC, amongst the stakeholders in science education which identified ideas that should be central to the science curriculum. Other research has explored the nature of effective pedagogic practice required to teach these ideas and a recent evaluation funded by the Nuffield Foundation has identified the challenges such curricula pose for teachers and their professional development.

Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education (CASE)
Our work on cognitive acceleration, led by Philip Adey and Michael Shayer, has a worldwide reputation. Spanning several decades, the research and development has involved academics and research students in the UK and overseas. CASE has been taken up by countless schools and has impacted on the attainment of thousands of school students from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 4.

Teaching Enquiry and Assessment for Learning
Research conducted for the Association for Science Education-King\'s Science Investigations in Schools (AKSIS) project, extended and improved the teaching of scientific enquiry. The project resulted in four publications for practitioners which have sold more than 12,000 copies. The work was influential in framing the revision of the Science National Curriculum and led to the Gatsby Foundation funding the SEP-King\'s Enhancing Enquiries in Schools which developed a framework for analysing the quality of discourse in lessons and materials to broaden the diversity of science investigations.

Our work on Assessment for Learning is internationally known. \'Inside the Black Box\', written by Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam, has been hugely influential on education policy in the UK and elsewhere. Subsequent publications by Paul Black, Christine Harrison and colleagues include \'Working Inside the Black Box\' and \'Assessment for Learning: Putting it into Practice\'.

ICT and Science Education
Mary Webb and colleagues have explored the effects of ICT on teacher and learner roles. This research has led to funded systematic literature reviews on learning ICT and on using ICT to enhance learning. These reviews have been widely cited and have stimulated research into the pedagogical opportunities provided by recent technological developments, including interactive whiteboards.