ICT: Aiding the improvement of Science literacy
Education can be considered as a top priority for a country like ours with approximately 86 million in population as of 2006, 33% of which are 0-14 years old. The children who enroll in elementary schools and high schools in the urban and suburban areas are certainly meant to uphold the country’s more than 90% literacy rate.
What about science literacy? Sure, most can read and write, but grasping scientific concepts and applying them in practical problems are not easy to come by. From the 91% of boys and girls in primary school to the remaining 28% who proceed on to college, it is not surprising if scientific aptitude is the last thing on their minds.
Access to quality information can be a reason for this. Available laboratory equipment, audio-visual materials, and multi-media equipment can also be considered as challenges faced by science teachers in the public high schools, as they have to be contented with the 15.2% of the national budget the government spends on education.
But with the emergence of ICT as a tool for education, there can be alternative and supplementary education materials. The World Wide Web is filled with scientific information at the touch or click of a mouse. It can be used for assignments, for reports, research and projects. The different websites offer various choices in conducting scientific lessons: through videos, pictures, music, online lectures, web conferences, among others.
To give a taste as to how vast an information resource the Web is, here are some science-related websites for you to consider:
A History of DNA Testing – a Flash presentation on DNA testing
Access Science – a science journal with fully illustrated articles
American Astronomical Society
American Chemical Society – with essays on the “building blocks of science”
BiologyBrowser – an interactive website with links to a zoological thesaurus, a forum for biologists, among others
Current Contents – for updates from the science and engineering journals
Discovery Channel – with lesson plans
Electronic Journals, Newspapers and Magazines – selected list of reputable newspapers with archives like The New York Times and Washington Post
Internet Public Library – information is divided by age group and topics, with an online classroom and a reading room
Learning Biology Online
Librarians' Index to the Internet – used to be the Berkeley Public Library’s Index to the Internet, and still is a collection of categorized sites for easy browsing
Library of Congress – an impressive library in itself, the site has virtual exhibits and massive research possibilities
Microsoft Encarta: Sci. Lessons
National Academies Press – a free collection of 3,000 text books on science and technology
National Science Foundation – U.S. science policy, news, and grants information
Science.gov – has more than 1,000 government scientific information resources
Science Image – an image library for great close-ups of nature and animals presented by Australia’s major science research organization
Web of Science – produced by the ISI (Institute for Scientific Information)
Sources:
“Education in the Philippines.” Retrieved November 23, 2008 from
http://stats.uis.unesco.org/unesco/TableViewer/document.aspx?ReportId=120&IF_Language=eng&BR_Country=6080&BR_Region=40515
“Libraries-Science.” Retrieved November 23, 2008 from
http://www.educationindex.com/libsci/
“Science resources.” Retrieved November 23, 2008 from
http://www.uic.edu/depts/lib/science/resources/index.shtml
(Published 2 December 2008, Smart Communications, Inc.)
