Science Education in Different Contexts: Regional and Local Differences in The Main Research Trends

Abstract

This review aimed to understand how trends in science education have changed from 2000 to 2021 and how these patterns are studied in different regions. We investigated science education articles published in Web of Science (WoS) database and grouped them into five regions: North America, Europe, Australia, Asia, and South America & Africa. From 2000 to 2010, there were 2159 published articles, with North America accounting for 51% of these. From 2011 to 2021, the number of publications increased to 7186 articles, with North America accounting for 43% of the articles. From 2000 to 2010, Asia published fewer studies than Australia, but from 2011 to 2021, Asian countries published more. The top journal analysis revealed that local journals and technology related journals were instrumental in non-English speaking countries. The number of common keywords appearing in different regions increased concurrently with the number of studies. Conceptual change and scientific literacy appeared as frequently used keywords in four different regions from 2000 to 2010. On the other hand, teacher education, professional development, scientific literacy, argumentation and nature of science appeared as frequently used keywords in four different regions from 2011 to 2021. Scientific literacy was a common theme across different periods, and the emphasis on inquiry shifted to argumentation. While presenting the changing dynamics across different spans and our review also included evidence that scholars in different countries started to investigate similar ideas in different contexts from 2011 to 2021.