Abstract :
This is the first of a series of review papers. This paper reviews the very
considerable contribution of the late Professor Alex H Johnstone to the
world of science education research. The aim is to show the main areas
he explored and the way he directed his research work which was almost
entirely undertaken by his research students. Starting his research in the
1960s, he looked at the areas of difficulty that school students faced in
understanding highly conceptual subjects like chemistry. He found the
fundamental reason why such difficulties are to be seen and then applied
this finding to all areas of teaching and learning at school and at
university stages. In this, he made major contributions to formal teaching
(like lecturing), group work, laboratory work and assessment. The impact
of his work is evaluated and key aspects identified. For many years, he
was the Director of the Centre for Science Education at the University of
Glasgow, Scotland. Here, he supervised perhaps 100 research students
from many countries. He received numerous awards and published a
very large number of papers as well as twenty books. He directed
research following approaches well established in other disciplines.
Overall, he offered model for undertaking quality research which can
guide and inspire us for the future.
Keyword :
science education, working memory, conceptual understanding