Science Education in Palestine

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to give the reader an overview of the real situation, opportunities, trends, and challenges related to science education in Palestine. The Palestinian educational system is struggling from the Israeli occupation and the procedures of the occupation procedures on the ground which negatively influence the development of the Palestinian infrastructure in different aspects of the Palestinian people including the educational system. The Palestinian organizations including the governmental ones and the local community try their best to mitigate the negative influence on education through many initiatives. This chapter was to introduce the actual situation of Science education in the Palestinian territories exploring the potential of emerging technology and utilizing it in the Palestinian educational system especially in science education in both higher education institutions and in K- 12. The Ministry of Education and non-profit organizations as well as the local community are supporting science education in public schools through improving the infrastructure of science labs, providing schools with scientific equipment and teachers’ training. The Palestinian policy is to encourage students to learn science through lunching different national competitiveness in science field and participating regional and international exams in science field. Along with these procedures, the Palestinian Ministry of Education encourages teachers to integrate technology in science education especially using new emerging technology such as Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, and Virtual Reality. In addition, training teachers to design technological activities and interactive content.KeywordsPalestinian territoriesScience educationPalestinian policies