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Education Sciences
Special Issues
Crosscutting Concepts in Science Education – Expectations, Challenges and Innovations
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Crosscutting Concepts in Science Education – Expectations, Challenges and Innovations

A special issue of Education Sciences (ISSN 2227-7102). This special issue belongs to the section "STEM Education".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2023) | Viewed by 5202

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Yaron Lehavi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
The David Yellin Academic College of Education, Jerusalem, Maagal Beit Hamidrash 7, 3578, Israel
Interests: science education; physics education
Dr. Avraham Merzel

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
The Seymour Fox School of Education, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem 9190501, Israel
Interests: science education; physics education

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The idea of introducing concepts that are used across all scientific domains to science education is rather old and can be traced back to the late 1980s and has many facets. From the content point of view, it has been claimed that crosscutting concepts provides an organizing schema for interrelating knowledge from various science fields into a coherent and scientifically based view of the world.

From the learning perspective, the knowledge of crosscutting concepts is expected to enrich students both intellectually and practically when addressing phenomena faced in different disciplinary areas. Moreover, the notion of crosscutting concepts represents a holistic view of science, at least in the sense that some concepts hold the same meaning across their different areas. This view entails a thorough deliberation of what we mean by coherence in the context of teaching crosscutting concepts.

Additionally, crosscutting concepts may bring challenges to teaching and teachers’ PCK and thus have ramifications on teachers’ preparations. Finally, introducing crosscutting concepts to the curriculum generates innovative teaching and assessing approaches and strategies.

However, fulfilling the above hopes and expectations requires scrutinizing the challenges associated with the introduction of crosscutting concepts to science education. For instance, it is not clear whether crosscutting concepts, such as energy, systems and system models, are used and perceived equally in physics—a highly deductively ordered discipline and biology that is a more inductively ordered one. Assessing the coherence expected to evolve from the introduction of crosscutting concepts is another challenge, among others, for researchers in this area. 

Purpose: The Special Issue aims at covering the current (and possible future) expectations and challenges in introducing crosscutting concepts. Moreover, we open this platform for research-based educational innovations regarding teaching or assessing the knowledge of crosscutting concepts.

Scope: We call scholars to contribute to the Special Issue: “Crosscutting concepts in science education—expectations, challenges and innovations” addressing the following aspects related to crosscutting concepts:

  • Historical, philosophical and scientific perspectives of the subject;
  • Curriculum design considerations such as: age and level considerations, content considerations in general and for specific concepts (e.g. patterns, cause and effect, energy, Systems and system models);
  • Assessment regarding the special knowledge related to crosscutting concepts;
  • Empirical research methods and findings;
  • Teachers training required for teaching crosscutting concepts.

Prof. Dr. Yaron Lehavi
Dr. Avraham Merzel
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Education Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • science education
  • crosscutting concepts
  • coherence
  • interdisciplinarity
  • teachers training
  • teaching innovations

Published Papers (3 papers)

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13 pages, 263 KiB  
Article
Conceptualization of Energy by Practicing Scientists: Do Researchers from Different Disciplines Grasp Energy as a Crosscutting Concept?
by Shahar Abramovitch and David Fortus
Educ. Sci. 2023, 13(12), 1179; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13121179 - 23 Nov 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1139
Abstract
Energy is one of the fundamental concepts of science in all disciplines. For this reason, it can serve as a concept that crosses disciplinary lines and serves as a bridge for students trying to describe a scientific phenomenon using different lenses. Underlying this [...] Read more.
Energy is one of the fundamental concepts of science in all disciplines. For this reason, it can serve as a concept that crosses disciplinary lines and serves as a bridge for students trying to describe a scientific phenomenon using different lenses. Underlying this vision, which is highlighted by the Framework for K-12 Science Education is the implicit assumption that the different disciplinary perspectives of energy have something in common, which should be the focus of instruction and supports the way scientists in the different disciplines use energy. However, does a “unified conception” of energy actually underlie the ways diverse scientists use energy in their fields? To answer this question, we conducted a small-scale interview study in which we interviewed 30 top-level interdisciplinary researchers and asked them to explain several phenomena from different disciplines; all phenomena could be explained in various ways, one of which was an energetic explanation. Our results suggest that researchers from different disciplines do not think of energy in the same way and do not think of energy as an interdisciplinary concept. We argue whether teaching energy in an interdisciplinary way may support the development of future scientists and lay citizens or an expectation that may add more difficulty to an already difficult task. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Crosscutting Concepts in Science Education – Expectations, Challenges and Innovations)
16 pages, 1622 KiB  
Article
How Crosscutting Is the Energy Concept within Physics Teaching and Learning
by Eugenia Etkina, Jon Owen, Gorazd Planinsic and Lane Seeley
Educ. Sci. 2023, 13(9), 857; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13090857 - 23 Aug 2023
Viewed by 1212
Abstract
Much of the attention on the crosscutting concepts within the Next-Generation Science Standards (NGSSs) have gone to their coherence across different STEM disciplines. In this paper, we raise the question of the coherence of the energy concept within the teaching and learning of [...] Read more.
Much of the attention on the crosscutting concepts within the Next-Generation Science Standards (NGSSs) have gone to their coherence across different STEM disciplines. In this paper, we raise the question of the coherence of the energy concept within the teaching and learning of physics itself. Our investigations of teachers’ and students’ approach to solving problems, where both mechanical and thermal energy play equally important roles, indicate that the separation of energy studies in different units (mechanics, thermodynamics, etc.) leads to a cognitive disconnect of the understanding of different energy types and the inability to explain processes that involve both mechanical and internal energy, especially when the internal energy of the living organisms that are associated with a process is involved. We also find that when students gain experience analyzing scenarios where thermal energy plays a subtle yet critical role in addition to mechanical energy, they are able to apply this understanding to novel scenarios. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Crosscutting Concepts in Science Education – Expectations, Challenges and Innovations)
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13 pages, 1411 KiB  
Article
On the Nature and Utility of Crosscutting Concepts
by Jeffrey Carl Nordine and Okhee Lee
Educ. Sci. 2023, 13(7), 640; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13070640 - 22 Jun 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1916
Abstract
The crosscutting concepts (CCCs) are a collection of ideas that span the science and engineering disciplines. While various standards documents have identified similar sets of ideas in the past, calls for their explicit inclusion into science and engineering instruction began in earnest only [...] Read more.
The crosscutting concepts (CCCs) are a collection of ideas that span the science and engineering disciplines. While various standards documents have identified similar sets of ideas in the past, calls for their explicit inclusion into science and engineering instruction began in earnest only about a decade ago. When these calls began, the research base on the teaching and learning of the CCCs was limited; in the intervening years, educators have debated whether and how the CCCs are useful for supporting science and engineering learners. In this article, we summarize a recent scholarship that has clarified the role of CCCs in supporting science and engineering learning. Then, we highlight two exemplary curricular units (one elementary and one secondary) that showcase CCC-informed instruction. Based upon these research and development efforts, we identify three core messages: (1) CCCs provide learners with a set of complementary lenses on phenomena, (2) CCCs are powerful tools for broadening access to science and engineering, and (3) practitioner innovations play an especially important role in the time-sensitive work of establishing a more robust research base for how CCCs can strengthen science and engineering teaching and learning. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Crosscutting Concepts in Science Education – Expectations, Challenges and Innovations)
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