Intro/biography

My name is Gjalt Prins, newly elected treasurer of the ESERA organization. I have the privilege to take over the position as treasurer from Koos Kortland, who did a wonderful job during the last 12 years. As treasurer I will do the best I can in supporting all existing ESERA community building activities and new initiatives, as far as ESERA’s finances allow such support. I am a member of ESERA since 2004, the year I started with my PhD in chemical education. At the moment I am working at the Freudenthal Institute, Utrecht University in the Netherlands. My background is in chemistry and I have worked several years as a science teacher grade 11/12 at secondary school. At present, I am involved in training programs for science teachers. My current research interest is to explore ways to render complex, multifaceted authentic science practices into contexts for learning for use in secondary science education by means of educational design research.

Some reflections on ESERA 2015 at Helsinki

I enjoyed the ESERA conference 2015 at Helsinki. My positive appreciation refers to the encounter of many colleagues as well as becoming informed about current developments in science education research. In addition, the organization was excellent and the accommodation was nice and well equipped. I attended a great variety of presentations and symposia, ranging from students’ attitudes, decision-making in socio-scientific issues, learning strategies and cross-cutting concepts in science. The contributions evoked new questions and lead me to discussions with peers. I regard discussion as a valuable aspect of the ESERA conferences, because it moves the field of science education forward. The teaching and learning of science, in all its varieties, perspectives and dimensions, is our unique selling point in comparison to the (more) general domain of educational research. This ESERA conference once again has shown that there is need for research on science education.