The First IHPST Asian Regional Conference was held at Seoul National University, October 18–20, 2012, with Professor Jinwoong Song, Department of Physics Education, as the conference chair. It was a highly successful meeting with 161 participants from 13 countries: Australia, Canada, China Mainland, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and USA. There were 65 paper presentations and 52 poster presentations. A special feature of the conference was the presentation of thoughtful and detailed HPS-related posters by four final year Korean school students, and the participation of other high school students.

Plenary speakers included Hasok Chang, Norman Lederman, Igal Galili, Yung Sik Kim, Alice Wong and Takehiko Hashimoto. A pre-conference graduate-student workshop was conducted by different of the plenary speakers.

Thirty three papers were submitted for this journal special issue. After extensive reviews and revisions, 11 papers are included in the issue. The guest editors (Jinwoong Song, Sungook Hong and Sang Wook Yi) and journal editor are confident that the published papers will advance scholarship and research in the field, and will be appreciated by the science education community. The second IHPST Asian regional conference will be held in Taipei, December 4–6, 2014.

The issue’s guest editors and journal editor wish to thank the 72 scholars from 23 countries listed below who reviewed the manuscripts submitted for this conference-based special issue.

Informed and competent reviewing is a time-consuming and arduous task, but it is crucial to the integrity and quality of published work. Editors, authors, readers, and the scholarly enterprise more generally, benefit from this mostly anonymous and un-rewarded labour of dedicated scholars.

The journal is noteworthy for having so many competent reviewers from the disciplines of Education, Science, Mathematics, Philosophy of Science, History of Science, Sociology and Psychology. Manuscripts are usually reviewed by three scholars, and often by four, five and sometimes more established scholars from these different disciplines.

A list of the 900 + reviewers who have contributed their time and expertise over the past 6 years to making the journal so successful can be found at: http://ihpst.net/journal/reviewers/list-of-reviewers/.

Special Issue Reviewers

Jinwoong Song, Education, Seoul National University, Korea

Sungook Hong, History and Philosophy of Science, Seoul National University, Korea

Sang Wook Yi, History, Seoul National University, Korea

Alessandro Minelli, Biology, University of Padova, Italy

Ana C. Couló, Philosophy, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina

Andrew R. Binder, Communications, North Carolina State University, USA

Anna Carolina K. P. Regner, Philosophy, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, Arto Mutanen, Brazil

Behnam Taebi, Philosophy, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands

Charles Baily, Physics, University of Colorado at Boulder, USA

Cynthia Passmore, Education, University of California, Davis, USA

Davide Rizza, Philosophy, University of East Anglia, UK

Don Metz, Education, University of Winnipeg, Canada

Elizabeth A. Corley, Engineering, Arizona State University, USA

Enrico Giannetto, Physics, University of Bergamo, Italy

Erin E. Peters, Education, George Mason University, USA

Glenn Dolphin, Education, University of Winnipeg, Canada

Gustavo Romero, Physics, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina

Hayati Seker, Education, Marmara University, Turkey

Henk Zandvoort, Philosophy, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands

Hyunju Lee, Education, Ewha Womans University, South Korea

Ileana Maria Greca, Physics, Universidad de Burgos, Spain

Ingo Brigandt, Philosophy, University of Alberta, Canada

Ismo T. Koponen, Physics, University of Helsinki, Finland

Jacqueline Senker, Science Policy, University of Sussex, UK

Jenaro Guisaslo, Physics, Escuela Politécnica Donostia, Spain

John Capps, Philosophy, Rochester Institute of Technology, USA

John Settlage, Education, University of Connecticut, USA

Juha Saatsi, Philosophy, University of Leeds, UK

K Brad Wray, Philosophy, State University of New York, Oswego, USA

Ken Kawasaki, Education, Kochi University, Japan

Kevin C. de Berg, Chemistry, Avondale College, Australia

Kira Padilla-Martínez, Chemistry, UNAM, Mexico

Kunimasa Sato, Education, Nihon University, Japan

Kwok-Chi Lau, Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China

László E. Szabó, Philosophy, Eötvös University, Hungary

Laurinda Leite, Educação, Universidade do Minho, Portugal

Ling L. Liang, Education, La Salle University, USA

Manjula Devi Sharma, Physics, The University of Sydney, Australia

Mansoor Niaz, Chemistry, Universidad de Oriente, Venuezuela

Maria Develaki, Education, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

Mario Bunge, Philosophy, McGill University, Canada

Mark Shumelda, Philosophy, University of Toronto, Canada

Masahiro Arimoto, Education, Tohohu University, Japan

Masataka Watanabe, Education, University of Tsukuba, Japan

Matthias R. Risch, Physics, Augsburg University of Applied Science, Germany

Michel Janssen, Physics, University of Minnesota, USA

Moncy V. John, Physics, St. Thomas College, Kerala, India

Nelofer Halai, Education, The Aga Kahn University, Pakistan

Nicholaos J. Jones, Philosophy, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, USA

Olival Freire Jr., Physics, Federal University of Bahia, Brazil

Olivia Levrini, Physics, University of Bologna, Italy

Paolo Palmieri, History, University of Pittsburgh, USA

Park Doing, Engineering, Cornell University, USA

Paula Vetter Engelhardt, Physics Tennessee Technological University, USA

Renee M. Clary, Geosciences, Mississippi State University, USA

Ricardo Karam, Education, University of Hamburg, Germany

Richard E. Grandy, Philosophy, Rice University, USA

Robert Klee, Philosophy, Ithaca College, USA

Robert Nola, Philosophy, University of Auckland, New Zealand

Rod Fawns, Education, University of Melbourne, Australia

Rosemary Russ, Education, University of Wisconsin- Madison, USA

Ryan Samaroo, Philosophy, University of Western Ontario, Canada

James Scott Johnston, Education, Memorial University, Canada

Sorin Bangu, Philosophy, University of Bergen, Norway

Sura Wuttiprom, Physics, Ubon Rajathanee University, Thailand

Tetsuji Iseda, History, Kyoto University, Japan

Thomas Reio, Education, Florida International University, USA

Tom Boersen, Education, Aalborg University, Denmark

Ugo Besson, Physics, University of Pavia, Italy

Yaron Lehavi, Physics, The David Yellin College of Education, Israel

Yew Jin Lee, Education, National Institute of Education, Singapore