Throughout history, there have been strong connections between science and education, with the history of science very often being a history of students, teachers, instructional sites, and educational activities. Education - both formal and informal - plays an important role in the formation of scientists' foundational knowledge and community practices, as well as serving as an important context for many scientists' careers. Contemporary educational research demonstrates that educational practices can have substantial and long-lasting impacts on students' understanding of science. Despite such significance, education's diversity in forms and impacts can be difficult to fully recognize and incorporate into our histories of science. In this flashtalk, I will introduce the multi-dimensional approach to thinking about education's role in science, and critically analyzing its impact, that I have developed and used in my dissertation work on 19th-century American science education.
