Abstract
This paper examines the extent to which the specific objectives in the basic school science curricula reflect the notion of scientific literacy as envisaged by the curriculum developers. The specific objectives for teaching, learning and assessment were analysed using a consensus building approach to identify objectives addressing the three profile dimensions emphasised in the two curricula. The findings revealed that far more emphasis is put on knowledge and understanding in the upper primary and junior secondary school science curricula than the curriculum developers had intended. Also, the anticipated percentage weights of the three profile dimensions are inconsistent with what obtains in the two curriculum documents. The curriculum developers therefore need to address the issue of how much content is necessary to emphasise the development of science attitudes and process skills at the primary school level and application of knowledge at the junior secondary school level as envisaged. African Journal of Educational Studies in Mathematics and Sciences Vol. 4 2006: pp. 1-14
Highlights
The world is gradually becoming a science-oriented global village
The first question addressed was the relative proportion of emphasis on the three profile dimensions in the science curricula to see how they reflect on the intentions of the curriculum developers
The junior secondary school (JSS) science curriculum has a total of 49 sub-topics and 365 specific objectives spread across JSS1 to JSS3
Summary
The world is gradually becoming a science-oriented global village This means that citizens of both developing and developed countries must have a certain level of science literacy to be able to cope with the demands and problems of a science-oriented society in the context of their lives outside school. The writings of Hurd espoused the need to teach science to all students irrespective of whether they will pursue careers in science or not (Bybee & Deboer, 1994). This brought to the fore the notion of scientific literacy. Many countries including the United States and United Kingdom have been grappling with the type of scientific literacy appropriate for its citizens and the extent to which they must learn science in school at various levels of the education ladder to become scientifically literate
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