Introduction: Coordinating PreK-16 STEM education research and practices for advancing and refi ning reform agendas

Among the many challenges facing the transformation of PreK-16 science teaching and learning is that of coordinating conceptual, epistemological, and social competencies and learning goals in disciplinary domains. From very early ages, we confront phenomenon that do not present themselves in tangible concrete meaningful ways. Consider the movement of the sun through the sky and the changing images of the moon. Many of these events are hard to comprehend because of the spatial or temporal scales and the interacting mechanisms involved both within and across Earth systems. There are numerous challenges for understanding and communicating evidence and explanations of such events.