Over the past twenty years much has been written about the knowledge bases claimed to be needed for teaching science. Aspects of this knowledge have changed over the last 20 years because of shifts in curriculum thinking. There is sharply increasing significance for the knowledge bases for science teaching in current trends in school science education. With the development of a standards-based approach to the quality of science teaching becoming increasingly common in the Western world, and phrases such as evidence-based practice becoming the catch-cry of attempts to "measure" such quality, it is timely to look at what constitutes evidence of quality science teaching, on what basis can such evidence be judged and how does such evidence reflect the knowledge basis of the modern day professional science teacher.

The time is ripe for a collection of writings (an edited book) that considers the knowledge bases seen to be required for science teaching. This book will bring together an international group of researchers who have researched and worked with science teachers in a number of ways and at the full range of educational levels/contexts in an attempt to make more explicit what can constitute valid evidence for making judgements about what is quality science teaching.