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6TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR THE EUROPEAN SOCIETY FOR THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE, LISBON, 5 SEPTEMBER 2014

INTEGRATING IDEAS AND IDEOLOGIES IN THE CLASSROOM

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UNESCO’S PROGRAMME IN INTEGRATED SCIENCE TEACHING 1969-1983

Kristian H. Nielsen

Centre for Science StudiesNy Munkegade 118DK-8000 Aarhus CDenmark

E-mail: khn@css.au.dk

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INTEGRATING IDEAS AND IDEOLOGIES IN THE CLASSROOM 5 SEPTEMBER 2014

THE EARLY DAYS OF SCIENCE EDUCATION AT UNESCO› Albert Baez, first director of science

education at UNESCO, 1961-67› Trained physicist, PhD from Stanford,

1950› Stationed in Baghdad in 1951› Quaker persuasion› Education and humanitarism, rather than

physics in the military-industry complex› Faculty position at MIT, 1959› Involved in science film-making, 1967-74› Albert V. Baez Award for Technical

Excellence and Service to Humanity established by the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Corporation, 1995 2

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INTEGRATING IDEAS AND IDEOLOGIES IN THE CLASSROOM 5 SEPTEMBER 2014

IDEOLOGY OF SCIENCE EDUCATION IN THE EARLY COLD WAR› Jerrold R. Zacharias

› Physicist at MIT, science education reformer

› Bring postwar research culture to bear on pressing educational problems› Big Science for science education

› Broad-based analytical and technical approach

› Government funding, large organizational structures

› Physical Science Study Committe, 1956› ”Sputnik chok”, October 1957› System-studies approach

› Using insights of social scientists to enable scientists and engineers to tackle problems of school learning anew

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INTEGRATING IDEAS AND IDEOLOGIES IN THE CLASSROOM 5 SEPTEMBER 2014

IDEOLOGY OF SCIENCE EDUCATION IN THE EARLY COLD WAR› ”Engineering rationality” (Rudolph, 2002)

› Objective: increasing the ”productivity” of science education› Means: curriculum reform

› Reviews of existing textbooks: subject matter sacrificed to pedagogy

› New textbooks focusing on the intellectual content of physics, chemistry, etc.

› Emphasis on the process of science

› Integrated approach to science education› Science as integrated element of modern society› Integrating the disciplines in the curriculum› Scientific inquiry as an integrating feature of science teaching› Integration of educational research and teaching practices

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INTEGRATING IDEAS AND IDEOLOGIES IN THE CLASSROOM 5 SEPTEMBER 2014

UNESCO’S PROGRAM IN INTEGRATED SCIENCE TEACHING, 1969-1983› Program launced at planning meeting, 17-19 March 1969› A series of publications on integrated science teaching› Technical services to Member States through UNESCO field experts› Experimental projects for developing new methods and materials› A series of integrated science workshops (regional and national)

› Objectives› Integrating science teaching into the overall curriculum› Developing teaching materials presenting science concepts through

unified approaches: relevance, conceptual schemes, or processual/inquiry

› Learning children to adopt a discovery approach (integrating scientific approach into everyday existence) 5

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INTEGRATING IDEAS AND IDEOLOGIES IN THE CLASSROOM 5 SEPTEMBER 2014

UNESCO’S PROGRAM IN INTEGRATED SCIENCE TEACHING, 1969-1983› Stephen O. Awokoya, second director of science education at UNESCO, 1967-› First Nigerian graduate in

chemistry, 1946› Teaching experiences in Nigeria› First Minister of Education in

Nigeria, 1952› Member of the Action Group, a

Nigerian political party for independence, 1952

› Comprehensive education as means of independence and indigenous focused development

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INTEGRATING IDEAS AND IDEOLOGIES IN THE CLASSROOM 5 SEPTEMBER 2014

UNESCO’S PROGRAM IN INTEGRATED SCIENCE TEACHING, 1969-1983› ”Belief systems which control learning are often markedly

different in Western and non-Western cultures. For children living in societies which traditionally are non-scientific in the Western sense, faith in the capacity of man to discover and interpret the nature of the physical world and thereby to control it to his personal advantage may imply something of an intellectual and moral quantum leap. Without such a change, it is possible to acquire scientific knowledge and techniques, but such learning will represent nothing more than replacing one authoritarianism for another, with the new being no less sterile and inhibiting to intellectual development than the old. Sharpening the sense of curiosity of children in a manner that leads to their independent and intelligent thinking needs to be cultivated. Integrated science teaching was identified as being one of the most promising hopes of achieving such high aims.”› Planning meeting, 1969

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INTEGRATING IDEAS AND IDEOLOGIES IN THE CLASSROOM 5 SEPTEMBER 2014

PROGRAM ACTIVITIES› The Tel Aviv elementary science teaching project

› ”Our school system has to educate citizens out of an ultra-heterogenous population to be capable of systematic thinking and to adjust themselves to a modern pattern of life.”

› Unit on ”the vital needs of living things”: Bacteria on teeth› Problem-solving by means of experimentation

› Basic knowledge about bacteria

› Dental hygiene

› Elementary scientific study of the Ant Lion, Tanzania› Where does he live?› How does he move?› Does he like sugar?

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INTEGRATING IDEAS AND IDEOLOGIES IN THE CLASSROOM 5 SEPTEMBER 2014

ASK THE ANT LION› ”Occasionally, I meet people who, when they hear about the ant lion unit, smile benignly, but express their conviction that an unimportant, low, stupid little ground-dwelling insect like this could not possibly be a proper object of science instruction in the schools. What does it accomplish? What is the use?

› My strongest and only argument is a class of children, busily engaged in experimentation with ant lions; their eager questions, their attempts to find answers to their problems, their growing satisfaction at being able to ask the ant lion, and their growing realization that they do get the answers without being told, but through their own efforts.”› J. Elstgeest, 1971

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INTEGRATING IDEAS AND IDEOLOGIES IN THE CLASSROOM 5 SEPTEMBER 2014

AFRICAN PRIMARY SCIENCE PROGRAM› Evaluation of the program

› “Because of the emphasis of the curriculum programme on the development of the child rather than the concepts of science, conventional tests of cognitive achievement would be largely inappropriate.”

› Shift from “consumer-oriented” to “producer-oriented” evaluation› Do not ask “whether or not the materials have worked in the African

classroom”

› But, rather, “whether or not APSP has contributed significantly to the production of a core of people within Africa, with experience, expertise and a mental orientation geared towards continuous curriculum renewal”

› Integrated science teaching for children and their teachers!

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INTEGRATING IDEAS AND IDEOLOGIES IN THE CLASSROOM 5 SEPTEMBER 2014

BRAZILIAN EXPERIENCES WITH INTEGRATED SCIENCE TEACHING › “Several obstacles were encountered. The measurement of

student achievement is the most common concept of evaluation among administrators. Therefore, it was necessary to demonstrate that the financial investment in evaluation was warranted in that quality control analysis would lead to a greater development of education's potential. It is also necessary to justify the idea that the money spent in the evaluation of instruction materials would lead to greater efficiency in their use, so that teaching and learning could really attain the proposed aims. The efforts of specialists, the broad bibliography on the subject and the need for evaluation because of the failure of many projects are slowly changing the situation. In integrated science, evaluation costs amounted to some 30 per cent of development costs.”› M. Kriisilchik 1977 11

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INTEGRATING IDEAS AND IDEOLOGIES IN THE CLASSROOM 5 SEPTEMBER 2014

UNESCO’S ROLE IN INTEGRATED SCIENCE TEACHING PROGRAMS› Instrumental in supporting the spread of integrated science teaching and curriculum reforms across the globe

› Supporting sharing of information and experiences› Diversity of an integrated approach› Interpretative flexibility of ”integrated science education”

› Ambiguities of ”integrated science education”› Evaluation is costly, and the goals can be difficult to point

down› Synonymous with changes in the curriculum and in teaching

methods› The integrated methods places great demands on children and

teachers12

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INTEGRATING IDEAS AND IDEOLOGIES IN THE CLASSROOM 5 SEPTEMBER 2014

PROBLEMS IN INTEGRATED SCIENCE EDUCATION› “The increasing attention paid to "skills" in recent years had been at the expense of considering the relationship between knowledge and skills. There has been a tendency to think that the skills can be acquired in themselves, perhaps in a desire to get away from 'old-fashioned' teaching of large amounts of information and concepts. Teacher educators are talking more about what people can do and are less keen to be seen worrying about what they know. The question of whether doing can occur without knowing has meanwhile been avoided.”› C. Sutton, 1977

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INTEGRATING IDEAS AND IDEOLOGIES IN THE CLASSROOM 8 MAY 2014

THANK YOU!

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Kristian H. Nielsen

Centre for Science StudiesNy Munkegade 120-1520DK-8000 Aarhus CDenmark

E-mail: khn@css.au.dk