Rethink Science Education

Whereas change in school science is slow, the pace of scientific and technological development within society is great, so much so that there is a danger that the changing world leaves science education behind. This is not only in terms of content and its related conceptual understanding, but also in its approach, its field of operation and the skills demanded of the teacher. In addressing these concerns, research in a science education context has tended to focus on the following problem areas: (a) the unpopularity of science subjects among students, where less and less students are thinking about careers in science and further study in science related areas (Krajcik et al., 2001; UNESCO,1999); (b) the irrelevance of science for students as taught in schools. Students do not see science useful for their lives and future developments (Osborne & Collins, 2001; Holbrook, 1998; Pak, 1997; Yager, 1996); (c) the static nature of the science content, overloaded with facts and theories taken from the past (Krajcik et al., 2001; Rannikmae, 2001). This bears little relationship with everyday needs; (d) student perception of school science as dominated by content with too much repetition and too little challenge (Osborne & Collins, 2001; Sjoberg, 2001); (e) isolation of science education from the values components of education and communication. Science education tends to be portrayed as value free, yet at the same time, the community needs increasingly to address moral and ethical issues and related problems (Anderson, et al., 1992; Holbrook, 1992; Layton, 1986); (f) teaching that is lacking attention to higher order learning among students has limited the development of problem-solving and decision-making skills among school graduates (Anderson et al., 1992; Zoller, 1993; Tal et al., 2001). These areas of focus are interrelated, even though they are addressing and highlighting issues in different contexts of science education. In general, all can be discussed within two domains: teacher's lack of training to teach higher order cognitive skills (problem-solving, decision-making) to students, and concerns for the context in which the science content is taught by teachers. It seems there is a need to rethink the rationale for teaching science in schools. Essential to this is determining the meaning of "science education", or "school science" and its relationship, if any, to other subjects in the school curriculum. A major consideration is to consider the place of science education within the context of education as a whole. Students go to school to be educated, or