Online Science: Its Role in Fostering Global Scientific Capital

Abstract

In this chapter, we provide an overview of the state of global science capacity and online science education initiatives designed to increase that capital, with emphasis on developing countries. We see the online environment as a connective tool to bridge very large gaps in wealth and capacity, an educational bootstrapping mechanism that has not yet been fully tapped. We briefly describe the valuation of science education, and establish a base from which advances in science education will be explored in the remaining chapters.