Handbook of Research on Science Education

Preface

Although some have predicted the end of science (Horgan, 1996), the scientific enterprise thrives and scientists generate new knowledge at an incredible rate. (A recent report from the US National Science Foundation stated that over 92,000 scientific articles were published in 2001 in comparison with about 70,000 in 1991 (Hill, 2004).) Essential to the vibrancy of science, scientists continue to ask questions of the world. In the July 1, 2005 issue of the journal Science, the editor compiled responses from senior scientists and published the 125 questions that science “should have a good shot at answering” (Kennedy & Norman, 2005, p. 75) in the next 25 years, many from relatively young sciences such as neuroscience, genomics, biomedical ...