The goal of science literacy for all underlies much of today’s K-12 science education (National Academies of Sciences [2016]. Science literacy: Concepts, contexts, and consequences. National Academies Press; Roberts, [2007]. Scientific literacy/science literacy. In S. K. Abell, & N. G. Lederman (Eds.), Handbook of research on science education (pp. 729–780). Lawrence Erlbaum). This goal assumes that the citizens of contemporary societies must be able to appreciate the relevance of and draw upon scientific knowledge and practices in a broad range of personal and social issues. Many national science education standards, which aim to promote science literacy for all, focus almost entirely on prescribing the conceptual knowledge and practices that underlie science literacy, with only little, if any, reference to the affective characteristics that need to be fostered in parallel to conceptual knowledge and skills. This position paper highlights why affect is so important for the development of science literacy by critiquing the arguments that underlie many national standards documents and by considering the crucial role affect plays in becoming and remaining a lifelong learner of science. We argue that there is a discrepancy between the science education research literature and many national science education standards in terms of the latter not acknowledging the affective domain as an important education outcome, and that this discrepancy is an obstacle to the attainment of science literacy for all.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development emphasized teachers as the cornerstone for the betterment of education. Teachers’ practices are strongly affected by teachers’ perceptions. The purpose of this study was to identify teachers’ perceptions to sustain STEM education development, regarding STEM education, STEM competencies, and difficulties in STEM implementation. We collected the data from 186 Vietnamese teachers, including STEM sub-field teachers and no STEM sub-field teachers. We used a survey method to capture teachers’ perceptions of STEM education. The one-way ANOVA was employed to examine the differences in teachers’ perceptions of STEM education in terms of the categorization of teaching experience, education background, and teaching subjects. The quantitative analysis showed that most Vietnamese teachers had positive views on STEM education. The higher educational background teachers and science teachers have the highest statistically significant scores in (1) STEM education, (2) STEM competencies, and (3) difficulties in implementation. The novice teachers have more positive views of STEM education, in terms of a better understanding of STEM education and assessing STEM competencies as being more valuable. There are no statistically significant differences in teachers’ difficulties among teaching experience groups. These results provide valuable information to design effective teacher professional development to sustain STEM education.

In recent years, the applications of virtual reality (VR) in learning environments has received considerable attention. This attention occurs as a part of a wider trend seen since the early millennium. This trend is that of increasing attention being placed on modes of instruction that can supply greater realism and immersion in the science classroom. VR is used in this study as a digital learning environment support tool. VR is defined as the use of three-dimensional graphic systems in combination with various interfaces to provide the effect of immersion and interaction in computer generated environments. The purpose of this study was to investigate the barriers to content learning and immersion of a VR laboratory designed to replicated hands-on laboratory for a large university system. The primary means for data collection was the use of a combination multiple choice and open-ended survey response in conjunction with interviews. Twelve faculty and 285 students took part in a pilot program testing a VR based laboratory system as a part of an undergraduate life sciences class. Overall, the results suggest the VR system as it is currently implemented is not yet ready for large-scale implementation due to barriers related to immersion and interface in the classroom. This study also provides design recommendations that may assist in the further development for VR use in the classroom in future iterations.

In learning based on socio-scientific issues, teachers primarily use role playing in situation learning to promote students’ knowledge and responsibility and to teach them how to reach a consensus in multirole scenarios. However, if participants only engage with the material from the perspective of having one role, they will ignore comprehensive information on said issue. Therefore, the roles students play during multirole situational learning lead to diversity biases in learning results. To help participants enhance their competencies related to issues and eliminate learning gaps, we developed an issue-based board game named Water Ark based on the following four design ideas: multirole simulation, reflective goal, systemic situation, and interactions of society. The results indicated that after playing the game, participants’ knowledge and responsibility regarding water resource adaptation improved significantly. Furthermore, the findings revealed that the gap between the learning outcomes of participants with different roles in the game was not statistically significant, except in terms of students’ personal willingness to act. Thus, these design ideas could improve the utility of board games for learning about socio-scientific issues with multirole scenarios.