This book is a result of a workshop where 14 science educators were invited to draft chapters on the implications that the research studies in a specific content area of science have for its teaching. The relations between social forces and perceptions of purpose and content lay behind discussions in the workshop, and influenced the emergence of three major issues concerning science content: its variety; its complexity; and the relation between content and action. Chapters include: (1) "Science Content and Constructivist Views of Learning and Teaching" (Peter Fensham; Richard Gunstone; and Richard White) and "Constructivism: Some History" ((David Hawkins); (2) "Beginning to Teach Chemistry" (Peter Fensham); (3) "Generative Science Teaching" (Merlin Wittrock); (4) "Constructivism, Re-constructivism, and Tack-oriented Problem-solving" (Mike Watts); (5) "Structures, Force, and Stability. Design a Playground" (Cliff Malcolm); (6) "Pupils Understanding Magnetism in a Practical Assessment Context: The Relationship Between Content, Process and Progression" (Gaalen Erickson); (7) "Primary Science in an Integrated Curriculum" (Maureen Duke; Wendy Jobling; Telsa Rudd; and Kate Brass); (8) "Digging into Science-A Unit Developed for a Year 5 Class" (Kate Brass and Wendy Jobling); (9) "Year 3: Research into Science" (Kate Brass and Telsa Rudd); (10) "The Importance of Specific Science Content in the Enhancement of Metacognition" (Richard Gunstone); (11) "The Constructivist Paradigm and Some Implications for Science Content and Pedagogy" (Malcolm Carr; Miles Barker; Beverley Bell; Fred Biddulph; Alister Jones; Valda Kirkwood; John Pearson; and David Symington); (12) "Making High-tech Micrographs Meaningful to the Biology Student" (James Wandersee); (13) "Year 9 Bodies" (Anne Symons; Kate Brass; and Susan Odgers); (14) "Learning and Teaching Energy" (Reinders Duit and Peter Haeussler); (15) "Working from Children's Ideas: Planning and Teaching a Chemistry Topic from a Constructivist Perspective" (Philip Scott; Hilary Asoko; Rosalind Driver; and Jonathan Emberton); (16) "States of Matter-Pedagogical Sequence and Teaching Strategies Based on Cognitive Research" (Ruth Stavy); (17) "Pedagogical Outcomes of Research in Science Education: Examples in Mechanics and Thermodynamics" (Laurence Viennot and S. Rozier); and (18) "Dimensions of Content" (Richard White). (JRH)