This issue of Science Education introduces the new section, "The Books," which signals the journal's interest in filling a need felt by its readership. Over the years, the Editorial Board has become concerned that the international field of science education has not been well served by the relatively scant attention paid to books by journals and other periodical publications. Although secondary sources and various library tools enable consumers to identify journal articles and conference papers when the latter are submitted to information data bases like ERIC, readers are not well supported in their efforts to locate information published in books and monographs of similar size: few journals in the field carry traditional book review sections, no journal offers lists of published books received, and there is no place for Institutes and Centers to publicize their informal monographs.
The two parts of "The Books" in Science Education will provide consumers with a valuable tool for accessing these materials in two ways. The first portion, "The Reviews," will consist of critical accounts of books selected by the editors from those submitted by publishers. The second portion, "Books Received," will list books received from commercial publishers and monographs received from research and development centers and institutes in universities and similar institutions. Each entry will be accompanied by an annotation of one or two sentences.
Although we do not wish to follow criteria slavishly,