Edited by Kris Rutten, Stefaan Blancke, and Ronald Soetaert, Perspectives on Science and Culture explores the intersection between scientific understanding and cultural representation from an interdisciplinary perspective. Contributors to the volume analyze representations of science and scientific discourse from the perspectives of rhetorical criticism, comparative cultural studies, narratology, educational studies, discourse analysis, naturalized epistemology, and the cognitive sciences. The main objective of the volume is to explore how particular cognitive predispositions and cultural representations both shape and distort the public debate about scientific controversies, the teaching and learning of science, and the development of science itself. The theoretical background of the articles in the volume integrates C. P. Snow's concept of the two cultures (science and the humanities) and Jerome Bruner's confrontation between narrative and logico-scientific modes of thinking (i.e., the cognitive and the evolutionary approaches to human cognition).

Global science education is a reality at the end of the 20th century - albeit an uneven reality - because of tremendous technological and economic pressures. Unfortunately, this reality is rarely examined in the light of what interests the everyday lives of ordinary people rather than the lives of political and economic elites. The purpose of this book is to offer insightful and thought-provoking commentary on both realities. The tacit question throughout the book is `Whose interests are being served by current science education practices and policies?' The various chapters offer critical analysis from the perspectives of culture, economics, epistemology, equity, gender, language, and religion in an effort to promote a reflective science education that takes place within, rather than taking over, the important cultural lives of people. The target audience for the book includes graduate students in education, science education and education policy professors, policy and government officials involved with education.

All science proceeds by progressively building on the work of others while remaining open to new discoveries and challenging existing conceptual frameworks. The same is true of culturo-behavior science. This textbook presents the scientifically rigorous work of the last several decades that has taken a behavior-analytic view of social and cultural processes, with an eye for contributions that address social and cultural issues. The chapters herein explore and elaborate on the history, theories, and methodologies of culturo-behavior science and those of its researchers and practitioners. Throughout this volume, the authors intentionally prompt students to both learn from and question the current theory and methods while shaping their own research and practice. This book presents multiple intersecting perspectives intended for graduate-level students of behavior analysis. Contributors to this volume include many of the major scholars and practitioners conducting research and/or practicing in communities and larger cultural systems. Their work is scientifically guided, systemic, and ecologically valid; it includes basic research as well as efforts having applications in community health, sustainability, environmental issues, and social justice, among other matters. There is material here to support specialists preparing to do research or practice within community and cultural-level systems. As well, students who intend to do direct and clinical work will find the background they need to make contributions to the field as engaged, informed citizens.

This book presents 25 selected papers from the International Conference on “Developing Synergies between Islam & Science and Technology for Mankind’s Benefit” held at the International Institute for Advanced Islamic Studies Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, in October 2014. The papers cover a broad range of issues reflecting the main conference themes: Cosmology and the Universe, Philosophy of Science and the Emergence of Biological Systems, Principles and Applications of Tawhidic Science, Medical Applications of Tawhidic Science and Bioethics, and the History and Teaching of Science from an Islamic Perspective. Highlighting the relationships between the Islamic religious worldview and the physical sciences, the book challenges secularist paradigms on the study of Science and Technology. Integrating metaphysical perspectives of Science, topics include Islamic approaches to S&T such as an Islamic epistemology of the philosophy of science, a new quantum theory, environmental care, avoiding wasteful consumption using Islamic teachings, and emotional-blasting psychological therapy. Eminent contributing scholars include Osman Bakar, Mohammad Hashim Kamali, Mehdi Golshani, Mohd. Kamal Hassan, Adi Setia and Malik Badri. The book is essential reading for a broad group of academics and practitioners, from Islamic scholars and social scientists to (physical) scientists and engineers.

Latin America plays an increasingly important role in the development of modern Christianity yet it has been underrepresented in current scholarship on religion and science. In this first book on the subject, contributors explore the different ways that religion and science relate to each other.

This book provides an overview of the theory and practice of science communication. It deals with modes of informal communication such as science centres, television programs, and journalism and the research that informs practitioners about the effectiveness of their programs. It aims to meet the needs of those studying science communication and will form a readily accessible source of expertise for communicators.

This Reader brings together a wide range of material to present an international perspective on topical issues in science education today. In order to identify what themes should be addressed in the book, thirty-eight science educators from around the world responded to the question: 'What issues are currently important in science education in your country?' The outcome is this lively and authoritative Reader, which features topics as varied as: globalisation assessment pupil's views on science education environmental education teaching approaches teacher development multimedia and ICT constructivism. With a specially written introduction from the editor, providing a much-needed context to the current education climate, students of science education will find this Reader an important route map to further reading and understanding.

Communicating science and technology is a high priority of many research and policy institutions, a concern of many other private and public bodies, and an established subject of training and education. In the past few decades, the field has developed and expanded significantly, both in terms of professional practice, and in terms of research and reflection. At the same time, particularly in recent years, interactions between science and society have become a topic of heated public and political debates, touching issues like quality and credibility of information, trust in science and scientific actors and institutions and the roles of experts in crises and emergencies. This book provides a state-of-the-art review of this fast-growing and increasingly important area, through an examination of research done on the main actors, issues and arenas involved. The third edition of the Handbook brings the reviews up-to-date and deepens the analysis. As well as substantial re-working of many chapters, it includes four new chapters addressing enduring themes (science publics, science-media theories), recent trends (art-science interactions) and new proposed insights on science communication as culture and as 'the social conversation around science'. New contributors are added to the group of leading scholars in the field featured in the previous editions. The Handbook is a student-friendly resource, but its scope and expert contributions will equally appeal to practitioners and professionals in science communication. Combining the perspectives of different disciplines and of different geographical and cultural contexts, this original text provides an interdisciplinary as well as a global approach to public communication of science and technology. It is a valuable resource, notably an indispensable guide to the published work in the field, for students, researchers, educators and professionals in science communication, media and journalism studies, sociology, history of science, and science and technology studies. Chapter 8 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

This unique encyclopedia explores the historical and contemporary controversies between science and religion. It is designed to offer multicultural and multi-religious views, and provide wide-ranging perspectives. "Science, Religion, and Society" covers all aspects of the religion and science dichotomy, from humanities to social sciences to natural sciences, and includes articles by theologians, religion scholars, physicians, scientists, historians, and psychologists, among others. The first section, General Overviews, contains essays that provide a road map for exploring the major challenges and questions in science and religion. Following this, the Historical Perspectives section grounds these major questions in the past, and demonstrates how they have developed into the six broad areas of contemporary research and discussion that follow. These sections - Creation, the Cosmos, and Origins of the Universe; Ecology, Evolution, and the Natural World; Consciousness, Mind, and the Brain; Healers and Healing; Dying and Death; and Genetics and Religion - organize the questions and research that are the foundation of the enormous interest, and controversy, in science and religion today.