| Abstract: | Research should play a central role in decision making. Practitioners as well as policy makers can illafford to ignore the importance of research, particularly those involving the local context, in informing practice. Contextual differences are often incurred when overseas research findings are imported. A very strong case can therefore be made for more local research studies for use within the local context. There is, however, a dearth of local studies in science education over the past two decades. This paper attempts to briefly survey the field to account for the impoverished state. It will then review some thirty-six research studies carried out in Singapore spanning the period from 1971 to 1990—these representing the studies where documentation were available—with the view of pooling together the findings of the studies and eliciting trends for the benefit of future research efforts as well as enlightening practice and policy. |
