Science Teaching in Schools

SSM Centennial: Intellectual Independence as a Persistent Theme in the Literature of Science Education: 1900–1950

“…But one might have asked then, as now, how this influenced the mission of science education. Dewing (1909) acknowledged the difficulty in determining the mission of science education and stated that “science teaching has a definite and difficult problem before it and its mission is not furthered by listening to every educational fad that clouds the horizon” (p. 11). Stewart (1917) pointed out that teachers were barraged by a multitude of conflicting goals (he specifically addressed chemistry) and that a teacher would undoubtedly be criticized regardless of which route pursued:…”