Educators in Science: Should you be alarmed?
Assessing a country’s science and technology education is a good standard to measure the country’s science and technology potential.
Science and the country
- Students have to understand how the world works and the processes of science.
- They will be pivotal in future elections, which encompass issues such as the environment, health, medicine, technology, among others.
These two points, taking into consideration the lack of national focus for strengthening a country’s science and technology infrastructure, become alarming and leaves us vulnerable. In an earlier quote, former chairman of the Microsoft Corporation Bill Gates said that when he compares American high schools to what he sees when he travels abroad, he becomes terrified for the future workforce.
Moving beyond
Memorization of the different kinds of species or parts of the body is important for to understand how the world works. But for the students to become thinking, engaged, skilled and informed citizens, rote memorization is not enough.
If we look at examples of countries like Japan and the US, with their stable science and technology foundations, it shows that growth in graduates of the said subjects (leading to a growth in the workforce of science and technology industries) also contribute to overall economic growth.
Whatever lessons teachers come up with, for the students to become competitive in the workplace, they should have improved computational skills, great reading aptitude, better problem-solving abilities, strong interpersonal communication skills, skills in oral and written presentations, and effective use of ICT.
All these skills cannot be done with just the traditional textbook. More and more schools these days delve into research-centered or inquiry-based science instruction because students who learn from these score higher on assessments and standardized.
The inquiry-based science instruction
For this to work, the main focus is developing students’ critical thinking skills—the how to think, not what to think.
Moreover, it:
- builds upon current knowledge and skills
- encourages students to think of what they want to know and how to find the answer
- engages the curiosity of the youth
- deals with the real world, not pictures on a text book
- deals with other people in teams and collaborations
- allows different learning styles to bring out the best in the student
- enhances learning in other areas aside from science like reading, math and social studies
Thus far, institutions like the National Science Research Council have been advocating for the improvement of science education. They have brochures on “Improving Student Achievement in Science” and Studies of Student Achievement, as well as a Resource List.
Hopefully, there will be initiatives from the local government and the Department of Education to stimulate more effective science and technology learning in schools to keep up with the rest of the world.
Sources:
“An Alarming Picture.” Retrieved November 23, 2008 from
http://www.nsrconline.org/pdf/BASE_white_paper.pdf
“Educators.” Retrieved November 23, 2008 from
http://www.nsrconline.org/base/educators.html#lead
(Published 2 December 2008, Smart Communications, Inc.)
