Mapping the Evolution of Science Education: A 35-Year Topic Modeling Analysis of Research Trends
RESEARCH IN SCIENCE EDUCATION, 2026 (SSCI, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Derleme
- Basım Tarihi: 2026
- Doi Numarası: 10.1007/s11165-026-10371-4
- Dergi Adı: RESEARCH IN SCIENCE EDUCATION
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, IBZ Online, Aerospace Database, EBSCO Education Source, Education Abstracts, Educational research abstracts (ERA), ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Natural Science Collection (ProQuest), Biological Science Database (ProQuest), Earth, Atmospheric, & Aquatic Science Collection (ProQuest), Education Source Ultimate (EBSCO), Materials Science & Engineering Collection (ProQuest), Technology Collection (ProQuest)
- Bursa Uludağ Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
Science education research has expanded and diversified over the past three decades, yet comprehensive, data-driven syntheses remain scarce. This study maps 35 years of scholarship (1990-2025) across five leading journals by applying Structural Topic Modeling (STM) to 10,164 research articles. A content-prevalence STM was conducted with publication year as a covariate and selected the number of topics via coherence, exclusivity, residuals, and semantic inspection, yielding a 12-topic solution: 1- History, Philosophy, and the Nature of Science; 2- Informal and Out-of-School Learning; 3- Problem Solving and Conceptual Challenges in Physics & Chemistry; 4- Curriculum Reform and Education Policy; 5- Experimental Design and Intervention Research; 6- STEM, Gender, and Motivation; 7- Conceptual Development and Misconceptions; 8- Discourse, Identity, and Classroom Interactions; 9- Modeling, Reasoning, and Scientific Explanations; 10- Teacher Education and Professional Development; 11- Assessment, Measurement, and Psychometrics; and 12- Socio-scientific Issues and Argumentation The topic labelled as History, Philosophy and Nature of Science accounts for the largest share of the corpus. In sum, the present study establishes a collective baseline, providing a foundation for the promotion of equitable, epistemically rich, and technology-enabled innovation across the domains of science education research, policy, and practice.