SCIENCE EDUCATION IN CONTEXT

Science Education in Context An International Examination of the Influence of Context on Science Curricula Development and Implementation

Edited by Richard K. Coll University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand and Neil Taylor University of New England, Amidale, Australia

SENSE PUBLISHERS ROTTERDAM / TAIPEI

A C.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

ISBN 978-90-8790-247-6 (paperback) ISBN 978-90-8790-248-3 (hardback) ISBN 978-90-8790-249-0 (e-book)

Published by: Sense Publishers, P.O. Box 21858, 3001 AW Rotterdam, The Netherlands http://www.sensepublishers.com

Printed on acid-free paper

All rights reserved © 2008 Sense Publishers No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work.

This book was developed with the assistance of a Dean’s Initiative Grant from the Faculty of The Professions at the University of New England.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Science Education in Context: An Overview, and Some Observations Richard K. Coll, Neil Taylor

xi

Pacific 2. Capacity Building as a Collaborative Model in International Development Projects: Lessons for the Philippines Bill Atweh, Allan B.I. Bernardo, Marilyn Balagtas 3. Science Education and Curriculum Reform in Papua New Guinea John Longo Rombo 4. Education for Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management on Bougainville Bert Jenkins 5. Technology Education Development in the Solomon Islands David Sade 6. Improving Primary Science Education in Fiji by Using a Multifaceted Approach Neil Taylor, Kelera Taloga, Sadaquat Ali

3

17

33

45

55

Caribbean 7. Towards the Development of a Science Education Policy: An Analysis of the Curriculum Interventions and Reforms of Secondary Science Education in Post-Colonial Jamaica Novelette Sadler-McKnight and Marcia Rainford

69

Middle East and India Subcontinent 8. The Science Curriculum in Omani Schools: Past, Present and Future Abdullah Ambusaidi and Mohamed Elzain

85

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

9. Science Education in India Mridula Ranade 10. Curriculum Reform in Science Education in Pakistan Nelofer Halai 11. School-based Assessment in Sri Lanka: Ensuring Valid Processes for Assessment-for-Learning in Physics Princy Selvaruby, Barry O’Sullivan, Mike Watts

99

115

131

Europe 12. The Rivalry Among the Separate Science Subjects for Dominance in Secondary Education: The Case of Greece and Beyond Georgios Tsaparlis

145

13. A Critical Review of the Development of the Turkish Science Curriculum Muammer Çalık and Alipa¸sa Ayas

161

Africa 14. Handling School Science Curriculum in Botswana: Local Context Realities and Experiences Joseph Thoko Matsoga 15. Science Teaching in Context of Botswana Anthony T. Koosimile, Robert B. Prophet

177

187

16. Improving Science and Mathematics Teachers? Subject Knowledge in Namibia Choshi D. Kasanda

199

17. Science and Mathematics Education in Ethiopia: Policy, Curriculum and Implementation Temechegn Engida, Solomon Areaya

211

18. Technical Education Reforms in Malawi Vanwyk K.M. Chikasanda, Ida K. Mbendera 19. Science Education in Tanzania: The Changing Content and Form of Science Teaching and Teacher Education Kalafunja M. O-saki viii

223

235

TABLE OF CONTENTS

20. A Glimpse into Mathematics Curriculum Development and Implementation in Nigeria Primary and Secondary Schools Mojeed K. Akinsola, Adetunji A. Olaoye 21. Inclusive Science Education for the Rainbow Nation: Reflections on Science Teaching and the Development and Implementation of the National Curriculum Statement in South Africa Josef de Beer 22. A Critical Sense of Location: Analyzing the Impacts of Student Discourse Contexts in Science Education Paul Prinsloo

251

261

271

Asia 23. Science Education in Singapore: Meeting The Challenges Ahead Thiam Seng Koh, Kim Chwee Daniel Tan, Horn Mun Cheah

283

24. Science Education in Thailand: Science Curriculum Reform in Transition Chanyah Dahsah, Chatree Faikhamta

291

25. Teacher Training of Secondary School Physics Teachers in Malaysia: Critical Issues and a New Direction Mohd. Zaki Ishak, Zulkifli Mohamed

301

26. Primary Science Curriculum in Bhutan: Development and Challenges Wangpo Tenzin, T. W. Maxwell 27. Assessment Reform in Science in Hong Kong: Policy, Teacher Beliefs and Practice May Hung Cheng

313

333

28. Learning from Other Countries: A Critical Examination of the Current Primary Science Curriculum Reforms in Mainland China 343 Bangping Ding Conclusions and Implications 29. The Influence of Context on Science Curricula: Observations, Conclusions and Some Recommendations for Curriculum Development and Implementation Richard K. Coll, Neil Taylor

355

ix

COLL AND TAYLOR

SCIENCE EDUCATION IN CONTEXT: AN OVERVIEW AND SOME OBSERVATIONS

INTRODUCTION

This book presents an international perspective of the influence of educational context on science education. By this we mean the context in which the teaching and learning takes place, rather than the use of a context-based approach to learning and teaching (Pilot & Bulte, 2006). The focus is on the interactions between curriculum development and implementation in non-Western and nonEnglish-speaking contexts (i.e., outside the UK, USA, Australia, NZ, etc.). There has been much written about the problems and issues associated with the development of curriculum, especially in science education. A complication in curriculum development and implementation is the mode of development, with the use of a centre-periphery model being common (McGee, 1997). Even with wide consultation, Bell, Jones and Carr (1995) comment that a key feature of curriculum development is the inevitable tension that arises between stakeholder groups such as: government, ‘industry’, curriculum developers, teachers, school authorities, teachers and students. Each of these cohorts holds certain views about what is important and what should (or should not) be included in any curriculum statement or policy document. It also is important to understand what the term curriculum means (Hume & Coll, 2005). Here we distinguish between the formal or official curriculum (i.e., that as represented in formal policy documents), and the implemented or enacted curriculum (i.e., the interpretation of official policy statements and subsequently delivered by teachers). Effective science curriculum is of considerable importance internationally because there is increasing pressure by governments to produce technically skilled people from the compulsory and tertiary education sectors; people capable of participating actively in the so-called ‘knowledge economy’. Such pressure is often acute in ‘developing’ or non-Western countries, which oftentimes have economies based on the rather fickle (especially post-September 11) tourism industry, or relatively low-value agricultural produce. Factors such as isolation from major markets like Europe and the USA further exacerbates problems with economic competition - as do powerful trading blocks and the apparent inability of World Trade Organization to open markets to free competition for agricultural produce. The World Bank, in particular, routinely talks of a greater need for skilled workers in developing countries (and indeed in Western countries) for those who wish to xi

COLL AND TAYLOR

participate in the knowledge economy (see, e.g., World Bank, 1996, 2006), and to shift away from commodities to value-added products. There are similar calls for more technically skilled workers even in more developed wealthy countries. However, arguably of greater interest here is a general need to produce a scientifically-literate populace (Coll & Taylor, 2004; Laugksch, 2000). Miller (2000) sees scientific literacy as being able to read about, understand and participate in a public policy debate involving science or technology, which many authors see as an important outcome of the school system (see Laugksch, 2000 and references therein). We live in the most scientifically and technologically advanced age ever. Incredible advances have been made in science, in medical science, technology and engineering, and information and communication technologies. Advances in education and science education have strived to incorporate these advances in science education (Fensham, 1988; Gilli, 2000). Most countries have national curricula in science, and many have witnessed the development of new national curriculum statements in related subjects such as technology (e.g. Jones, 1997; Sade & Coll, 2003). However, many authors (e.g., Eisenhart, Finkel & Marion, 1996; Jenkins, 1990; Preece & Baxter, 2000; Shamos, 1996) express alarm about the prevalence of the public’s beliefs that are not in accord with scientific views, seeing this lack of agreement as an unfortunate indictment of the compulsory science education sector. THEORETICAL BASIS TO THE BOOK

Recent research seeking to understand science education has been developed based upon the notion of social cognition and sociocultural views of learning (Vygotsky, 1986; Wenger, 1991). According to social cognition theory learning occurs in a variety of contexts or situations (Hennessy, 1993; Hennessy & Murphy, 1999). Sociocultural views of learning derived from this place considerable emphasis on the social component within the particular context or situation in which learning occurs. Educational research has in the past been grounded in the assumption that it is possible (indeed desirable) to investigate an individual removed from their social context. Many early learning theories sought to achieve this in order to obtain data ‘uncontaminated’ by subjective influence of researchers. Other approaches assume that cultural and social issues can be incorporated as additional variables once the basic form of mental functioning in an individual is isolated and understood. However, according to Wertsch (1991): The basic tenet of a sociocultural approach to mind is that human mental functioning is inherently situated in social interactional, cultural, institutional, and historical context. Such a tenet contrasts with approaches that assume, implicitly or explicitly, that it is possible to examine mental processes such as thinking or memory independently of the sociocultural setting in which individuals and groups function. (p. 86) A key feature of the book is then a focus on the ‘situatedness’ of learning, and its influence on curriculum. Each author writes about a particular educational issue. xii

AN OVERVIEW AND SOME OBSERVATIONS

Many first provide an overview with some detail of the background about science education in the particular educational context, before exploring the influence of the key sociological and contextual factors on the issue of interest, and in some cases research projects they have been intimately involved with. ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

An important and distinguishing feature of the book is that it draws upon the experiences and research of local experts from an extremely diverse cohort across the world. Each chapter is concerned with some aspect of science curriculum (interpreted broadly to include technology, environmental and mathematics curriculum) in a specific educational context. In some cases the chapter is in the form of a story or narrative, in other case it draws from particular research inquiry conducted by the author and his or her colleagues. The book addresses topics such as: curriculum development; research or evaluation of an implemented curriculum; discussion of pressures driving curriculum reform or implementation of new curricula (e.g., technology or ‘new mathematics’); the influence of political, cultural, societal or religious mores on education; governmental or ministerial drives for curriculum reform; economic or other pressures driving curriculum reform; the influence of external assessment regimes on curriculum; and so on. The editors have made a conscious effort to remain ‘hands off’ when editing, and to allow the contributors own voice to be heard. This book represents their story, not ours. REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY Bell, B., Jones, A., & Carr, M. (1995). The development of the recent national New Zealand science curriculum. Studies in Science Education, 26, 73-105. Coll, R.K., & Taylor, N. (2004). Probing scientists’ beliefs: How open-minded are modern scientists? International Journal of Science Education, 26(6), 757-778. Duit, R. (2000). Bibliography: Student's alternative frameworks and science education (5th ed.). Kiel, Germany: University of Kiel. Eisenhart, M., Finkel, F., & Marion, S.F. (1996). Creating the conditions for scientific literacy: a reexamination. American Educational Research Journal, 33, 261-295. Fensham, P.J. (1988). Familiar but different: Some dilemmas and new directions in science education. In P.J. Fensham (Ed.), Development and dilemmas in science education (pp. 1-26). London: Falmer. Gilli, D. (2000). Science education and economic developments: Trends relationships and research agenda. Studies in Science Education, 35, 27-58. Hennessy, S. (1993). Situated cognition and cognitive apprenticeship: Implications for classroom learning. Studies in Science Education, 22, 1-41. Hennessy, S., & Murphy, P. (1999). The potential for collaborative problem solving in design and technology. International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 9, 1-36. Hume, A., & Coll, R.K. (2005, July). The impact of a new assessment regime on science learning. Paper presented at the 34th Annual Conference of the Australasian Science Education Research Association. Hamilton, New Zealand. Jenkins, E. (1990). Scientific literacy and school science education. School Science Review, 71, 256. Jones, A. (1997). Recent research in learning technological concepts and processes. International Journal of Technology Design Education, 7(1-2), 83-96. Laugksch, R.C. (2000). Scientific literacy: A conceptual overview. Science Education, 84, 71-94.

xiii

COLL AND TAYLOR Lave, J. (1991). Situated learning in communities of practice. In L.B. Resnick, J.M. Levine & S.D. Teasly (Eds.), Perspectives on socially shared cognition (pp. 63-82). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. McGee, C. (1997). Teachers and curriculum-decision-making. Palmerston North, New Zealand: Dunmore. Miller, J. (2000). The development of civic scientific literacy in the United States. In D. Kumar & D. Chubin (Eds.), Science, technology and society: A source book on research and practice (pp. 21-47). Dordrecht: Kluwer. Pilot, A., Bulte, M.W. (2006). What do you ‘need to know’? Context-based education. International Journal of Science Education, 28(9), 953-956. Preece, F.W., & Baxter, J.H. (2000). Scepticism and gullibility: The superstitious and pseudo-scientific beliefs of secondary school students. International Journal of Science Education, 22(11), 11471156. Sade, D., & Coll, R.K. (2003). Technology and technology education: Views of some Solomon Island primary teachers and curriculum development officers. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 1(1), 87-114. Shamos, M. (1996). The myth of scientific literacy. Liberal Education, 82(3), 44-49. Vygotsky, L. (1986). Thought and language. Translated by A. Kozulin. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Wertsch, J.V. (1991). A sociocultural approach to socially shared cognition. In L.B. Resnick, J.M. Levine & S.D. Teasly (Eds.), Perspectives on socially shared cognition (pp. 85-100). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. World Bank. (1996). Pacific island economies: Building a resilient economic base for the twenty-first century. Washington, DC: World Bank. World Bank. (2006). Education for the knowledge economy. Retrieved 10 November 2006, from http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/ EXTEDUCATION/,,contentMDK:20161496~menuPK:540092~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~the SitePK:282386,00.html Yates, G.C.R., & Chandler, M. (2000). Where have all the skeptics gone? Patterns of new age beliefs and anti-scientific attitudes in pre-service primary teachers. Research in Science Education, 30(4), 377-397.

AFFILIATIONS

Richard K. Coll Centre for Science & Technology Education Research University of Waikato New Zealand Neil Taylor School of Education University of New England Australia

xiv

PACIFIC

ATWEH, BERNARDO AND BALAGTAS

CAPACITY BUILDING AS A COLLABORATIVE MODEL IN INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS: LESSONS FOR THE PHILIPPINES

INTRODUCTION

The role of professional development for the successful implementation of educational reform has been highlighted by different authors. For example, Hargreaves (1994) asserts that “significant change in curriculum, assessment or any other domain is unlikely to be successful unless serious attention is also paid to teacher development and the principles of professional judgment and discretion contained within it” (p. 242). Similarly, Sprinthall, Reiman and Thies-Sprinthall (1996) affirm that the “massive failures of the [many] national curriculum projects of the 1960s” (p. 666) have raised interest in (re)investigating and (re)theorizing the teachers’ role in educational change. Arguably, these issues are perhaps more problematic in educational reforms in less affluent countries where research knowledge and resources are often very limited. Educational reform in many less affluent countries has modeled itself after reform movements in the USA (Standards) and UK (outcome based education). Further, the increasing international aid projects designed to assist less industrialized countries in implementing educational reform has the potential of escalating the uncritical transfer of priorities, agendas and practices from industrialized to less industrialized countries. In science education, the past 100 years have witnessed a rapid increase of international contacts and collaborations between academics around the globe in the form of conferences, publications, courses for international students, exchanges of curricula and professional development programs, a multitude of cross-national comparative studies and, of course, consultancy projects. At the same time that the trends of globalization might be providing increasing opportunities for our academic work, consultancies and publications, it is also leading to an ever-increasing gap between the haves and have-nots, between the rich and the poor. This has created a dilemma for socially responsible academics that face a tension between their willingness to assist their counterparts from developing nations and their care not to indirectly impose their priorities, assumptions and values on them.

Richard K. Coll, Neil Taylor (eds.), Science Education in Context: An International Examination of the Influence of Context on Science Curricula Development and Implementation, 3–15. © 2008 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.

ATWEH, BERNARDO AND BALAGTAS 

This chapter discusses a model of collaborative capacity building as a model for professional development of science educators in a less industrialized country, the Philippines, towards the implementation of the new Teacher Education Curriculum in their pre-service teacher training courses. It also discusses issues on the use of a capacity building model as a means of international collaboration between donor and recipient countries in foreign educational aid projects with particular attention to minimizing the uncritical transfer of knowledge and values. First, we will discuss the context of the project. In the following section we will discuss the concept of capacity building as understood in the design and implementation of the project. The chapter concludes with some lessons that we have learnt about capacity building and collaboration in international projects. The Context of the Project In 2004, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) in the Philippines issued a new set of guidelines on what ought to be taught in the teacher education curriculum. Bernardo (in press) describes three important changes in the new teacher education curriculum – including the science education component. First, the curriculum incorporates an enhanced set of General Education requirements that could allow teacher education students to develop their language and communication, quantitative, and other cognitive competencies required for higher learning. Second, the Professional Education courses are designed to be integrated. The theories, principles and methods of teaching should be taught in a manner so that students explore how they relate to problems of teaching and learning in a real setting where there are diverse types of students, environments, and curricular objectives. This feature of the curriculum expands the experiential component of teacher education which begins in the second year through field observations of actual classes and culminates in a practice teaching requirement in the last year. Third, the Content Specialization courses for both the elementary and secondary education programs are drastically increased in the new curriculum. There is no specialization required for elementary teachers but they have to take a total of 57 units, in the same way as secondary teacher trainees with a major area of study, and to possess adequate content knowledge in all subject areas in the basic education curriculum. Cognizant of the new features of the new curriculum that teachers need to implement, CHED linked with an Australian universityi to help design a capacity building project that would enable the teacher educators to develop the skills required for the implementation of the new curriculum. The project was conceived to be completed in five stages: (1) Networking electronically between the Facilitatorsii; (2) a one-week Designing of the Capacity Building Workshop between five Filipino and two Australian Facilitators held in Brisbane in September 2005; (3) a two-week Capacity Building Program for 46 faculty members of tertiary education institutions and universities from 15 regions in the Philippines held in Manila October 2005; (4) the implementation of Professional

4

CAPACITY BUILDING AS A COLLABORATIVE MODEL

Development Activities in the various regions using action research conducted by the 45 participants between November 2005 and January 2006; and (5) a Writing Workshop in Manila held in March 2006, involving participants from the 15 regions for the writing and editing of a book (Atweh, Balagtas, Bernardo, Ferido & Macpherson, in press) as the final documentation of the project. THE PROJECT AS A CAPACITY BUILDING ACTIVITY

Capacity building, a term of increasing use in educational literature during the last few decades, remains a contested term because it is used in many contexts and means different things to different people. Often it is used to justify and argue for different policies and outcomes. Seddon (2001) demonstrates how the construct has been used by a wide cross-section of contexts all the way from writers within the transformative to the neo-conservative economic rationalist paradigms. This ambiguity about the term is not without its price. In a book published by Oxfam (Eade, 1997), the author quotes a report from the Community Development Resource Association of South Africa that states: Our lack of adequate theory of capacity building reduces our own capacity to engage in the practice. We lack the theory because we are not thinking through what we see before us. And we are avoiding thinking things through because to face the obvious will be to radically transform our practice. We are avoiding genuine accountability. (p. 1) It is beyond the scope of this chapter to provide a comprehensive critique of the capacity building discourses. However, we will use some of the principles often associated with capacity building to reflect on effective and sustainable professional development models in educational settings in less industrialized nations. Capacity Building as Professional Development Here, we will use and expand a model suggested by Harris and Lambert (2003) to discuss capacity building as a particular type of professional development. In their book, Building Leadership Capacity for School Improvement, the authors present a two-dimensional model to compare and reflect upon the different professional development activities. The first dimension relates to what they call the breadth of involvement in the programs. At one extreme lie the professional development activities that target individuals, or multiple individuals, who work alone within the institution, for example, an individual or group of teachers or principals. At the other extreme are programs that involve the whole school community including parents, students, teachers, administrators and possibly education departments. The second dimension discussed by Harris and Lambert relates to the skilful involvement of the program. On one extreme are the professional development activities that develop low level skills, such as writing lesson plans according to

5