Topic 1 & 2

• Towards "Science for all":

  • More weight on aspects of science contributing to overall schooling goals
  • Less weight on traditional academic contents and science as preparation for tertiary studies
  • Specialization postponed to last few years of school
• Towards more subject integration:

  • S&T integrated with other school subjects in early years
  • Separate science subjects taught at a late stage
• Widening perspectives:

  • More weight on cultural, historical, and philosophical aspects of science and technology
  • S&T presented as human activities appealing to pupils in search of meaning
• NOS: The Nature of Science:

  • Rejection of stereotypical image of science as a simple search for objective truths
  • Stress on social, cultural, and human aspects of science
• Contexts become important:

  • More weight on putting science and technology in meaningful contexts for learners
  • Examples from everyday life and current socio-scientific issues used
• Concern for the environment:

  • More weight on environmental questions as part of the S&T curriculum
  • Environmental issues often require project work in interdisciplinary settings
• Weight on Technology:

  • Technology introduced as a subject in its own right in many countries
  • Technology presented within the science curriculum to illustrate scientific theories and principles
• STS: Science, Technology and Society:

  • Concern for the relationship between S&T and society
  • Increase of the STS perspective
• Inclusion of ethics:

  • Many S&T topics have ethical dimensions
  • Ethics involved in discussions related to 'pure' science and research priorities
• "Less is more":

  • More weight on 'great stories' of S&T and key ideas presented in historical and social context
  • Focus on conveying understanding of the nature of S&T and inspiring students
• Information technologies as subject matter and tools:

  • ICT treated as important subject matter in S&T curricula
  • ICT used for teaching, learning, modelling, visualization, and simulations in S&T
• ICT encompasses internet-enabled and mobile technologies, including antiquated and cutting-edge technologies
• ICT is leveraged for economic, societal, and interpersonal transactions and interactions
• ICT has revolutionized how people work, communicate, learn, and live
• ICT's importance to economic development and business growth has led to the Fourth Industrial Revolution
• Discrepancy in access to ICT has created a digital divide, with efforts to bridge this gap through policies and programs
• United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal to increase access to ICT and provide universal and affordable internet access in least developed countries by 2020
• Economic advantages within the ICT market and broader business and societal areas due to advancements in ICT capabilities
• Advancement of ICT capabilities has made the development and delivery of various technologies cheaper for vendors and customers
• Science curricula are key factors to sustain and develop the interest in science


  Science curricula
• Science Education is the field concerned with sharing science content and process with individuals not traditionally considered part of the scientific community.


  Science education
• Science education in most countries is criticized for being traditional and rather old fashioned


  Science education
• general trend is that there seems to be less infl

  uence from the (traditional) academic organization of curricula and contents.
• Social and ethical aspects of S&T are often becoming part of the curriculum
• Towards “Science for all” More weight on aspects of science that can be seen to contribute to the overall goals of schooling.
• Towards more subject integration. It is a general trend that separate science subjects are taught only at a late stage.
• Widening perspectives more weight on cultural, historical and philosophical aspects of science and technology. S&T are presented as human activities. These aspects may also appeal to the pupils that are in search for ‘meaning’, not only factual information and the accepted correct explanations.
• NOS: The Nature of Science the ‘Nature of science’ has become an important concern in the curriculum.
• NOS: The Nature of Science the ‘Nature of science’ This often means a rejection of the often stereotypical (and false) image of science as a simple search for objective and final truths based on unproblematic observations. The weight on recent understanding of the nature of science also implies a stress on the social, cultural and human aspects of science.
• Science is presented as knowledge that builds on evidence as well arguments in a creative search for meaning and explanation.
• NOS .This aspect also strengthens that human and social relevance of science, and may attract pupils who value such aspects.
• Contexts become important more weight on putting science and technology in meaningful contexts for the learner. This often implies examples from everyday life and current socio-scientific issues. These themes or topics are by their nature interdisciplinary, and require teacher cooperation. Such issues often requires methods like project work.
• Weight on Technology Technology has recently been introduced in many countries as a subject in its own right, also in the general part of the education system
• STS: Science, Technology and Society STS has become an acronym for a whole ‘movement’ within S&T education. The key concern is not only the Science and the Technology content, but also the relationship between S&T and society. The trends described in the preceding points (relevant contexts, stress on the environmental and the role of technology) can also be seen as belonging to an increase of the STS perspective
• Inclusion of ethics When S&T issues are treated in a wider context, it becomes evident that many of the topics have ethical dimensions
• “Less is more” This has become a slogan for curriculum development.
• The ‘hardware’ is science-based technologies; the ‘software’ builds on basic mathematics
• ICT encompasses both the internet-enabled sphere as well as the mobile one powered by wireless networks
• antiquated technologies, such as

  • landline telephones,
  • radio and
  • television broadcast --