STRENGTHENING SCIENCE EDUCATION FOR THE 21st CENTURY

Science education at all levels needs to be strengthened at its weakest points which are innumerable. The reason is that we lack a frame of reference for teaching science. In its absence, we need teachers in large numbers who can experiment with student goals; better adaptation of teaching – learning to individual needs; encouragement to students towards acceptance of responsibility for learning; increased opportunity for co-operative work by students for their improvement; more emphasis on question-answering & problem solving; greater satisfaction of learning by the students, a sense of self attainment by the students as active partners in the game; and increased possibilities for experiencing the joys of teaching & learning.

                The quality & quantity of learning at schools will go up if the mentioned deficient situation is set right. Teaching will then cease to be confused with ‘telling’ which is appreciated by the parents & the administrators. This is a real danger to guard against because our present day schools must serve as a “mighty instrument of discipline & progress”. A hindrance to this progress is our faith in status consciousness & hierarchy. The contribution of the individual to the national development is lost as such. Moreover, self sensitivity to professional concerns & enthusiasm are no longer the concerns of bye-laws & rules. This is a complex problem facing our educational system & it is not the objective of this paper to tackle this problem as this paper is mainly addressed to the individual science teacher & the impact nuclei.

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