In the last 50 years, research in Science Education has made significant progress with respect to the content, the aims and the teaching methods of Science in both primary and secondary education and even beyond them. During this process, Science Education has moved from behaviourism, the transition knowledge procedure and the absolute respect of the Science content to more student-oriented and group cooperative approaches (1960-1970). Namely, to the discovery idea before reaching the constructivism era, which places the emphasis on students' ideas and their role regarding teaching and learning (1980 - 1990).

Nowadays, in the context of globalization, previous experiences are being exploited, such as learning through investigation and / or modeling, which emphasize the investigation procedures leading to the learning of scientific models and to the induction of the scientific procedures. The concepts of investigation and modeling are favoured from the rapid development of ICT, which offers proper tools and support. At the same time, new ideas come up such as the concept of scientific literacy with a vague definition and methods of its accomplishment, multicultural and interdisciplinary approaches, as well as approaches for the education of special groups of students. The element of interest lies in the fact that in contrast to the previous attempts of change, it seems that new approaches include older ideas to a large extent, e.g. the exploitation of students' ideas and the extension of the concept of discovery. Today, the scientific community of Science Education is mature enough and seeks the proper didactical approach to teach the specific content.

In the level of educational praxis, the Greek case seems to try to incorporate some of the previous innovations. This results in the development of new curricula and school books as well as the development of important lab infrastructures, especially in Lyceums. In the teaching level, even though efforts have been made to employ experiments and more group cooperative approaches, traditional teaching does not seem to withdraw significantly, due to the limited pre- and in-service training of teachers.

This conference aims to:

• Bring closer mature and novice researchers, teachers and student-teachers, as well as people who shape the educational policy in Science field in order to discuss new and older ideas about Science education.
• To present and discuss the work of researchers and the possibilities of its exploitation in the educational praxis
• To discuss the problems of Science education and propose ideas and ways to improve it and make it more effective.

In this context, it is suggested that older and newer approaches should be presented and discussed during the conference such as:

• Teaching and Learning Science
• Models and modeling in Science Teaching and Science Learning
• Scientific and Technological literacy
• The use of ICT in Science Teaching
• Interdisciplinary and multicultural approaches in Science Teaching and Learning - Special groups' Education
• Informal approaches in Science Teaching and Science Learning
• Nature and History of Science in Education
• Education and Training of Science teachers
• Curricula and Science Books
• Ecological and Environmental approaches in education