OUTCOMES
Seventeen participants* brought to this Round Table, orally and in print, a broad array of topics and points of view out of which there emerged a set of ideas and concerns more or less common to the educational systems of the countries represented.

1: Educational systems around the world are complex networks involving:

Students, teachers, and parents
Schools, colleges, and universities
Professional organizations, industries
Governmental agencies
Economic and social structures
Historical traditions and attitudes

Each of these components plays a role in the educational system. Their properties and the nature and the extent of the interactions among them are important determinants of the structure and operation of the educational system, including their successes and their failures.

2: The rapid advances in science and technology over the past half century have resulted in major changes in economic and social conditions and have created the need for mass education and for a scientifically literate citizenry.

3: While there is a strong need for continuing research on the education of students and of teachers at all levels, scholarly physics education research has already provided convincing evidence of the efficacy of the active involvement of learners at all levels in the learning process.

4: The results of this research have clear implications for the reform of educational practices, as well as for the preparation and mentoring of teachers at all levels. It is in considering the difficulties of implementing such reforms that the need for close interaction and effective cooperation among all the components of an educational system becomes so strongly apparent.

5: Achieving the common goal of continuing and lasting improvement in complex educational systems improvements in their curricula, educational methodologies and practice, and in the overall quality of science education all this is not a simple or an easy task. It will require time, continuing hard effort on the part of many persons, changes in attitudes toward education, and substantial continuing financial support for the project. The challenges are many, but falling behind has serious consequences. Can any nation afford to fall behind?