Robert Fuller has set out to collect in a single volume the most important works by Robert Karplus on science education. But rather than simply present the articles and writings in chronological order, the editor has grouped the papers in eight chapters, and each chapter begins with an essay written by someone who worked with Karplus. Most of these eight essays add depth and complexity to the papers and, for some, may be as valuable as the reprints.
Robert Karplus received his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1948 at the age of 21 and became a full professor at UC Berkeley just ten years later. His work as a theoretical physicist helped establish the then-new field of quantum electrodynamics, and he was frequently referred to as one of the leading theorists of his day. But in the early 1960s he turned his attention to science education—particularly to the question of how...
