Springer is proud to introduce the official blog of Cultural Studies of Science Education, moderated by the BLOG Editor, Stephen Ritchie, from Queensland University of Technology. The Editors-in-Chief for CSSE, Wolff-Michael Roth and Kenneth Tobin also will play active roles as will the members of the editorial board.

The journal’s homepage can be found on Springer.com, while the full-text can be found on SpringerLink.

The articles published in CSSE are cutting edge in terms of theory, method and the issues addressed in the research. Each published article emphasizes one or more of the following perspectives: empirical, topical/polemical and theoretical.  Once an article is accepted for publication the editors select the participants in a Forum, which is a companion publication that begins with an articulation of key issues in the article and then ratchets up the scholarly discussion by exploring the issues, theories and methods employed in the paper in a deep way. Hence, for each paper published in CSSE there is a companion Forum that begins and expands a scholarly conversation. We see this as an important way to initiate, continue and expand the quality of the dialogues in science education.

The BLOG is an extension of what we have initiated in CSSE with the paper and associated Forum. Participants in the BLOG contribute to the conversation, which, as it is a conversation among scholars, is conducted in a way appropriate for a community of scholars. Issues that arise in the published works from CSSE, that is, the editorials, contributed papers and forums, are possible foci for scholarly critique and expanded dialogue. Each article/BLOG is assigned a BLOG editor and any filters imposed are part of a peer review process.  We publish contributions that are thoughtful, contribute in a scholarly way, and fit the goals of the CSSE. All publications in the BLOG are expected to add substantively to cultural studies of science education. Argument is expected, as argument is understood within the academy. We expect rationale for positions taken and for sociocultural theory to be employed in ways that catalyze thought and higher levels of scholarship within our field.

Each text submitted to a BLOG is reviewed by a BLOG editor who decides whether to accept it for publication. The expected turnaround time on decisions normally is short—on the order of days rather than weeks. Hence, the CSSE BLOG is the field where science educators collectively engage in and produce the most recent and cutting edge thinking in the cultural studies of science education.

Ken Tobin, Michael Roth & Steve Ritchie