ABSTRACT
Science teachers use a multiplicity of instructional methods and strategies when teaching science classes in K–12 schools and tertiary institutions. These strategies range from primarily didactic or teacher-centered to those that are primarily student-centered or learner-centered. This situation remains unchanged in the digital age when computer and network technologies have become ubiquitous; however, this simplistic dichotomy of student- or teacher-centeredness has become somewhat blurred and has taken on new meanings. Since the previous publication of this chapter (Treagust, 2007), there have been many changes in science, human societies, and science education, resulting in a new crisis in science and science education in the Western or developed countries (e.g., Gluckman, 2011; Hilton, 2010; McKinsey & Company, 2012; Sjøberg & Schreiner, 2010; Tytler, 2007). For example, the crisis in Australia was fourfold as reviewed by Tytler in 2007:
There is the shortage of skilled science professionals in the workplace in Australia and the shift in momentum of science-based development to developing countries, considerable evidence of student disenchantment with school science in the middle years, and a growing concern with a current and looming shortage of qualified teachers of science.
(p. ix)