Prioritizing Science Education

Abstract

This special issue of Science explores “Grand Challenges in Science Education,” a critical set of the problems and exciting opportunities now facing science education on a global level. The 20 Challenges, addressed by a team of education experts, range from “Enable students to build on their own enduring, science-related interests” to “Shift incentives to encourage education research on the real problems of practice as they exist in school settings.” Here I propose three additional Grand Challenges. These focus on harnessing the wisdom of teachers, helping the business community promote new directions in precollege science education, and—last but not least—catalyzing major changes in the way we teach college-level science.