Böcker i Sociocultural Explorations of Science Education-serien

This book focuses on the creative and transformative work of scholars who are advancing social justice through science/STEM education with limited resources. It draws attention to the significant body of work being conducted in various contexts so that readers could reflect and appreciate how much broader and transformative our impact could be if funding agencies, policy makers, and other researchers would widen their perspective and seek to promote social justice-driven scholarship. Public funding for STEM research on K-12 and teacher education that targets special populations is often limited and tends to favor mainstream research. This book contains case studies on innovative and promising STEM research with a focus on equity, diversity and social justice that are funded with limited or no public funding. It also presents anecdotes from authors in relation to their struggles in either securing funding for their reported study or seeking to publish its findings. This provides more context to the challenges of conducting non-mainstream research in science/STEM education. Most of the contributors are scholars of color and/or women conducting research with traditionally marginalized populations in science/STEM. Thus, this book offers an additional venue to share the voices of marginalized scholars and allies seeking to broaden our understanding of the challenges and successes of promoting equity, diversity, and social justice in various educational contexts.

This edited volume brings together international research that explores children¿s creativity in STEM inquiry. It takes the position that creativity is relevant in all aspects of life and is essential for adaptable and innovative thinking. The research informed content of the book, highlights both challenges and opportunities for growing children¿s creativity. The book focuses on fostering children¿s creativity and natural curiosity in the world around them through STEM inquiry. Through STEM inquiry, children are learning through a cross- disciplinary approach where they apply concepts from multiple fields as they are thinking creatively, problem solving and constructing solutions. Educators play a critical role in encouraging children¿s creativity by modelling creativity, providing creative projects for children and importantly, establishing rich culturally connected environments where children have the resources, conditions and opportunities for acting and thinking creatively. The book provides a lens for looking at children¿s creativity in a range of different cultural settings. It offers insight and guidance to future research and will build educators¿ capacity for developing children¿s creative practices.