The field of science education has been developing for over half a century and has flourished especially during the previous few decades. It is timely and fitting now that the International Handbook of Science Education should be assembled to synthesise and reconceptualise past research and theorising in science education, provide practical implications for improving science education, and suggest desir­ able ways to advance the field in the future. This Handbook provides a detailed and up-to-date overview of advanced international scholarship in science education. This two-volume, 72-chapter, 1,200+-page work is the largest and most comprehensive resource ever produced in science education for use by researchers, teacher educators, policy-makers, advis­ ers, teachers and graduate students. In structuring the Handbook, we divided the field of science education into the following ten significant areas: • Learning • Teaching • Educational Technology • Curriculum • Learning Environments • Teacher Education • Assessment and Evaluation • Equity • History and Philosophy of Science • Research Methods To each section, we appointed a 'section coordinator', who is a leading international scholar in that particular area and who assisted us in identifying authors and top­ ics for a section and in evaluating drafts of chapters and suggesting improve­ ments.