Editorial: Asia-Pacific Science Education (APSE): Building a Community of Scholars

Abstract

A second paper exploring educational responses to school disruption caused by COVID-19 comes from Jiyoon Yoon (USA), Yeonjoo Ko (Korea), and Hyunju Lee (Korea), who introduce an online pre-service teacher education program called Virtual and Open Integration of Culture for Education (VOICE). The third paper in this group, by Jeongho Cha (Korea) and Mary Dane F. Leonardo (Korea), evaluates a government-implemented science teacher education program in the Philippines using webinars to instruct teachers about a wide variety of technology to support science teaching in online environments in response to COVID-19 school restrictions. The first paper, by Agung Subiantoro (Indonesia), David Treagust (Australia), and Kok-King Tang (Australia), reports findings from a case study exploring the perceptions of four Indonesian biology teachers about SSI-based biology instruction after engaging in an SSI-focused teacher professional development program. Building from interviews, written reflections, and survey responses, the authors found teachers’ positive development with regard to knowledge about SSI s and scientific literacy, the necessity of including SSI s in science instruction, situational factors related to addressing SSI s in class, and teachers’ attitudes towards teaching SSI s. The researchers conclude by discussing the value of SSI-based instruction in Indonesian contexts and describe the need for and benefits of teacher professional development to promote SSI s in school science.