Gilbert J.K. (Ed.) Visualization in Science Education

Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 2005 , 346 pages, ISBN10: 1-4020-3612-4The book has been structured into four sections, following the classical educational design structure of aims, teaching methods, curriculum, and assessment. The first is concerned with ‘The significance of visualization in science education’: justifications for why the volume was worth assembling. The second is concerned with ‘Developing the skills of visualization’: accounts of what has been done with students and to what effect. The third is concerned with ‘Integrating visualization into curricula in the sciences’: accounts of how attempts to develop the skills of visualization have been placed within course structures to good effect. Lastly, a concern with ‘Assessing the development of visualization’: case studies of how changes in students’ capacity to visualize have been evaluated. Work on visualization in science education has so far, perhaps inevitably, been developmentlead, with most effort being placed on producing systems that can be readily accessed by students. The gradual accumulation of experience is leading to an awareness of the need for research to underpin further development.The field of research into ‘models and visualization’ is, in Thomas Kuhn’s terms, gradually emerging from a pre-paradigmatic state: there has so far not been a clear agreement on what to study, how to do so, what constitutes good practice, or how to evaluate the outcomes of that practice. Inevitably, there is therefore a degree of overlap between chapters – and indeed sections – as authors present their attempts to render the field coherent. But the four sections do address some key ideas, summarized below, and provide something of the basis for a Kuhnian ‘normal science’ paradigm for the field.In summary, the chapters of this book provide support for some assertions about
the field of ‘visualization in science education’ at the moment.