Introduction

The first paper in this section by Whitelegg is a collection of excerpts from a symposium on gender effects in science classrooms with contributors from Sweden, Denmark and England. A variety of research methods reveal interesting similarities in attitudes among children from all three countries. Bezzi takes us into the geosciences to show us how students represent the disciplines and view the quality of their teachers and teaching in this area. Scott draws upon a Vygotskian perspective to advance a theoretical framework of the way in which social processes affect personal meaning-making in highschool pupils. Spiliotopoulou and Ioannidis are concerned with Greek primary school-teachers’ models of the Universe, basing their study of teachers’ knowledge on drawings and accompanying explanations. Campbell and Ramsden round off the section with an examination of student teachers’ perceptions of the value of classroom research in their learning to become teachers.