Science Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Tales from the Front Lines

Certainly the year 2020 will be one for the history books, as COVID-19 made its impact globally beginning in that year. While it did not hit the United States substantially until about March of 2020, other countries felt the effects sooner. Eventually it seemed that the globe essentially was shut down due to the COVID-19 outbreak. This type of shutdown was challenging for education and educators. How could we pivot to online forums and teaching methods? Would our students still learn? It was especially concerning for science teachers and science educators who were accustomed to teaching using mostly hands-on inquiry instruction. How could students manipulate materials in these virtual settings? The science educators who have contributed to this book decided to conduct research to determine answers to some of these questions. The book is divided into three sections related to science teaching--COVID-19 science teaching research that involved K-12 teachers, research that explored university science content courses, and research that explored preservice science teacher education. Following each section we include a summary of the outcomes and recommendations. We end the book with conclusions and recommendations from a synthesis of the studies included.

Dr. Valarie L. Akerson, Dr. Ingrid S. Carter
Editors