HISTORY OF SCIENCE EDUCATION

SCIENCE EDUCATION – A GLOBAL VIEW

Science education from the 16^th century

·         Roger Bacon was the first to lay emphasis on the value of experiments & inductive enquiry; it was Francis Bacon who brought them to the notice of the world. He advocated sense training as part of education & a real start in science teaching was made through the inductive method.

·         Galileo Galilei, William Harvey, & Audreas Vesailus also have contributed significantly for the growth of science education.

·         Comenius, emphasized the importance of objects & pictures in teaching.

·         The establishment of the Royal Society in 1664 is a landmark in the history of science education.

·         During the 17^th century various scientific academies were established.

·         The industrial revolution that started in the 18^th century brought science closer & closer to the common man.

·         The University of London was opened in 1827, where natural science was taught T.A.Huxely, John Tyndall & Faraday are the three eminent scientists who urged for the spread of science education during this period.

·          Science gained a place in the school curriculum by its introduction for the first time at Rugby school of England in 1849. Botany, Geology, Physics & Chemistry were started in that school.

·         The most outstanding contribution to the teaching of science towards the close of the 19^th century was that of H.E.Amstrong. The Heuristic method of teaching was advocated by him.

·         In 1916 the British Government appointed a committee under the chairmanship of Sir.J.J.Thomson to enquire into the position of natural science in the educational system & its report ‘Thomson Report’ was published under the title ‘Natural Science in Education’.

·         The 20^th century is the age of rapid propagation of science education all over the world.

LANDMARKS IN THE DEVELPOMENT OF SCIENCE EDUCATION IN INDIA

The history of science can be said to have begun with the history of human existence. India has had flourishing tradition of scientific research and technological development. Takshasila (6^th Century BC) one of the earliest Universities in the world, attracted students from across the continents.

The development of modern science in India is not en organic extension of the earlier tradition. It is an implant by the British in a language that was alien to its people. Science education in India has been greatly accelerated after independence. The important landmarks in the development of science education are the following:

·         Report of the secondary education commission (1953) – recommended the teaching of general science as a compulsory subject in high schools & higher secondary schools.

·         All India seminar on teaching science - held at Tara Devi in 1956 made serious discussions on almost all the aspects concerning the teaching of science in schools. It had suggested a unique & uniform system of science teaching for the entire country, suite to its needs & resources.

·         National scientific policy resolution (1958) – envisaged the cultivation of science & scientific research in all its aspects.

·         Indian parliamentary & scientific committee – was set up in 1961 under the chairman ship of Shri. Lal Bahadur Shastri. The committee took up the study of ‘science education in schools’, with a view to find out the relation between the policies and decision of the centre & the states, & the courses offered in the schools.

·         National council of educational research & training (NCERT) – established in 1961 has a separate department of science education.

·         UNESCO planning mission – in 1963 the USSR experts of the UNESCO planning mission visited India on technical assistance projects. Three reports prepared by them. These reports gave the total picture of position of science & mathematics education in India & suggested ways to improve it.

·         Indian education commission (1964-66) – recommended compulsory science as part of general education & stressed that methods of teaching science should be modernized & that science teaching should be linked with agriculture & technology.

·         A review committee under the chairmanship of Sri Ishwarbhai Patel in 1977 recommended that science at the secondary stage should be offered through two equivalent alternate courses. The ‘Cource B’ was to be a composite course in science to be taught through a single text book. For ‘Cource A’ it recommended a discipline orientated approach in which physics, chemistry and biology were to be taught as separate subjects.

·         National policy on education (1986) – has given much stress on science education & has recommended that science education should be designed to enable the learner to aquire problem solving & decision making skills as well as the ability to correlate science with health, agriculture, industry & other aspects of daily life. It has also been stressed that concerted effort be made to extend science education to all those who had to remain outside the pale of formal education.

·         Navodaya vidyalayas – were conceived in 1986 by Rajiv Gandhi. The scheme aims at setting up well equipped well staffed schools in rural areas, almost one in every district to provide better quality science education to the talented children.

·         University grants commission - The University Grants Commission (UGC) of India is a statutory organization set up by Union government in 1956, for the coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of university education.

·         All India council for technical education  - The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is the statutory body and a national-level council for technical education, under Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development. Established in November 1945 first as an advisory body and later on in 1987 given statutory status by an Act of Parliament, AICTE is responsible for proper planning and coordinated development of the technical education and management education system in India. The AICTE accredits postgraduate and graduate programs under specific categories at Indian institutions as per its charter.

·         Institute of technology - Institute of technology is a designation employed in a wide range of learning institutions awarding different types of degrees and operating often at variable levels of the educational system. It may be an institution of higher education and advanced engineering and scientific research or professional vocational education, specializing in science, engineering, and technology or different sorts of technical subjects. It may also refer to a secondary education school focused in vocational training. There are 16 autonomous Indian Institutes of Technology in addition to 30 National Institutes of Technology which are Government Institutions. In addition to these there are many other Universities which offer higher technical courses. The Authority over technical education in India is the AICTE.

·         Indian institute of science - Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is a public institution for scientific and technological research and higher education located in Bangalore, India. It was established in 1909. It acquired the status of a Deemed University in 1958.

·         Advance centers for science & technology – a few senior scientists & industrialists have proposed setting up advanced centers for science & technology. These are composite science & technology education & research centers.  

·         Inter university centers – one of the most innovative steps taken by the UGC for promoting excellence was the setting up of inter university centers with most modern experimental facilities or providing national facilities such as accelerators & nuclear reactors to students & teachers from various universities.

·         Exploratory – An experiment in learning by doing science – a unique institution called exploratory has been developed Pune by a few dedicated educators. It is a place where school & college children can explore & experiment, invent & innovate & design & fabricate.

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