Abstract
The concerns of this article are the unacceptable status of Science, Technology and Mathematics (STM) Education in the Caribbean and how to improve the students’ achievement in the subjects involved through the instrumentality of better preparation of teachers by the Colleges and University faculties training teachers in the region. The index for measuring development among nations of the world is the level of scientific and technological advancement because the factors that influence development are based on human ability to explore, invest and utilize the natural endowments available in the nation. In other words, no nation can attain any reasonable level of development without meeting the vital demands of development particularly in the areas of science, technology and mathematics. Therefore, the article begins with the presentation of the importance and the status of STM education using the mirror of science students’ achievement at global level. Moreover, it is established that the Caribbean education also has some challenges to deal with in the areas of science, technology and mathematics education. The tertiary institutions, particularly the colleges training teachers and the universities are then challenged with suggestions of what they can or should do in teacher preparation that may have direct impact on improving the science students’ achievement in the Caribbean. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2013.v2n1p97
Highlights
One of the most important goals of education is for it to be functional and utilitarian preparing the individual for life in the community and reforming the society for relevance, adequacy and competitiveness in the world
In the area of communications, the entire world has been turned into a global village through the emergence of new postal services, radio, television, telephone, internet and other electronic devices which have made communication easier, faster and more efficient. In spite of these positive impacts of STM on the society, it is not encouraging to observe that the present status of STM education is some how worrisome because of the low science achievement of the students that are supposed to be future scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians
He further states that a cursory review of Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) results in biology, chemistry, physics and integrated science for the past ten years indicates that pass rates have, for the most part, fallen below 50% in these science subjects’
Summary
One of the most important goals of education is for it to be functional and utilitarian preparing the individual for life in the community and reforming the society for relevance, adequacy and competitiveness in the world. In the area of communications, the entire world has been turned into a global village through the emergence of new postal services, radio, television, telephone, internet and other electronic devices which have made communication easier, faster and more efficient In spite of these positive impacts of STM on the society, it is not encouraging to observe that the present status of STM education is some how worrisome because of the low science achievement of the students that are supposed to be future scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians. -Not available gNot applicable SP < .05, denotes a significant increase TP < .05, denotes a significant decrease It is against the backdrop of low level of achievement in science, technology and mathematics globally and in the Caribbean in particular that the need for this study is established. In other words it has become crucial, to investigate, based on existing literature, what the causes of low achievement in science, technology and mathematics are, what the challenges are and how to ameliorate the problems through teacher preparation in colleges and universities
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