School Science and the Development of Scientific Culture: A Review of Contemporary Science Education in Africa

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Abstract

The significant role science plays in the development of an individual and a nation has led to its inclusion in the school curriculum since the early part of the nineteenth century. The values, ethos, practices and perspective of science for interpreting nature are a part of science education. However, in recent times due to a combination of factors, school science has been seen to promote a mythic text book science rather than present the true image of science and reflect the real nature and outcome of scientific enterprise. If current developments occurring around the world are anything to go by, globalization with its attendant economic, political, social and other spin-offs, together with the phenomenal development in telecommunications, communications technology and computer technology will affect every person living on the globe in the twenty-first century. To fully understand, appreciate and effectively use all these developments for meaningful learning, scientific culture must permeate the society and the every-day thoughts and actions of ordinary people. For the developing countries of Africa dominated and governed by non-western socio-cultural factors, western science means an imposition of one culture over another. It means the replacement of the anthropomorphic worldview with a mechanistic one. This situation, amongst many others, would further militate against the race to development by African nations. This paper reviews the advent of science into Africa, the current state of school science in Africa and discusses the possibilities for, and implications of, harnessing traditional African thought system and Western science to develop an effective culture for Africa of the twenty-first century.