The Conference, epiSTEME-5, is the fifth in a series of biennial conferences aimed at reviewing research conducted world-wide in science, technology and mathematics education. It is being organised by the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, a National Centre of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India.

Science, technology and mathematics education (STME) have, in recent decades, emerged as lively new research areas. This research, inspired by issues of learning and teaching, has clear uniting themes in the cognitive, pedagogical, historical, philosophical and socio-cultural aspects of the sciences. The epiSTEME conferences occupy a unique position among conferences and bring together researchers in these foundational areas as well as from the domains of science, design and technology and mathematics education. Conference epiSTEME-5 continues this tradition of interdisciplinary exchange.

The name epiSTEME connotes, at one level, a systematic study of knowledge, while as an acronym it suggests a meta-view of science, technology and mathematics education. The previous epiSTEME conferences, episteme-1 in 2004, episteme-2 in 2007, episteme-3 2009 and episteme-4 in 2011, have catalyzed collaborative programmes among researchers and educational practitioners in India and abroad. Within India, they have helped to initiate and foster linkages between theory, empirical research and the activities of grassroot organizations.

This time, we are also co-hosting the 20th International Conference on Conceptual Structures (ICCS), from January 10-12, 2013. The special theme for this year will be “Conceptual Structures for Education Research”. We plan to organize one day of common sessions to facilitate exchange of ideas addressing the two research communities during the epiSTEME 5.

Four broad strands of research that impact STME will form the core of epiSTEME-5. Themes have been identified under each strand to reflect active research topics and areas of interest. Leading scholars will be invited to give overviews of some of the themes within each strand. Paper and poster sessions will complement the review talks. Pre- and post- conference workshops are being planned, the details of which will be announced later on the conference website. The strands and proposed themes are:

• Chun-Yen CHANG, NTNU, Taiwan
• Sugra Chunawala, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, TIFR, India
• Sibel Erduran, Bristol University, UK
• Mansoor Niaz, Universidad de Oriente, Venezuela
• Vinod Raina, co founder Eklavya, and Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti
• Michael Reiss, Institute of Education, University of London, UK
• Mark Sanders, Virginia Tech, USA
• Geoffrey Saxe,University of California,USA
• Yoshinori Shimizu, University of Tsukuba, Japan
• Dana Zeidler, University of South Florida, USA

Please revisit the  conference website for updated confirmed list of invited review speakers and further updates.

Papers are invited on the strands and themes listed above. The themes suggested are not exhaustive. (If you are in doubt, do write to the convener for clarification.)

Submissions can be made online in the form of full papers of 6-8 pages in length (maximum of 8 pages including references). Details and a template for submission may be downloaded from the conference webpage.

All submissions go through a double-blind review process. Accepted papers are published in the Conference Proceedings which would be distributed during the conference and can also be downloaded from the conference website. Review talks along with the discussions will be published in a series of volumes called The epiSTEME Reviews after the conference.

To enable a blind review process, authors' names, contact details and title of the paper must be provided separately, and must not be included in the papers. There are two modes of presentation at the Conference: Oral and Poster. The academic committee will assign accepted submissions to one of the two modes of presentation. Authors may indicate their preference for the mode of presentation at the time of submission.

Conference registration will start in September 2012.

Meanwhile please create an online registration so that you will receive updates of the conference information from time to time.

• Deadline for Submission of full paper: May 14, 2012
• Notification of acceptance: July 14, 2012
• Submission of revised final paper: September 15, 2012
• Registration: September 1 - November 15, 2012
• Dates of conference: January 7-11, 2013

• S. C. Agarkar
• Sanjay Chandrasekharan
• Sugra Chunawala
• Prithwijit De
• Savita Ladage
• G. Nagarjuna (Convener)
• Chitra Natarajan
• Jayashree Ramadas (Chair)
• Vijay Singh
• K. Subramaniam

• Madhavi Gaitonde
• Savita Ladage
• G. Nagarjuna (Convener)
• Manoj Nair
• Chitra Natarajan
• Ebie M. Sam
• K. Subramaniam
• Aniket Sule

Please check updates from the conference home page: http://episteme5.hbcse.tifr.res.in/