PROMOTING THE QUALITY AND PERTINENCE OF EDUCATION — SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION
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LOW-COST EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS A problem for many Member States is lack of adequate resources. This, combined with the fact that ready-made teaching aids are both expensive and not easily available on the market, makes it imperative that countries be able to design, develop and produce their own low-cost, simple educational materials, using locally available resources. A typical, very traditional, teaching method of the time was the so-called ‘chalk and talk’ approach. This did nothing to stimulate pupils’ active participation in the teaching-learning process, more often than not resulting in their mechanical memorization of facts and figures of little use to them in everyday life. So, the efforts of countries participating in the Asian Programme of Educational Innovation for Development (APEID) to promote the development and use of low-cost educational materials was very opportune, and led to a series of activities being organized at national and regional levels. The first was a Regional Workshop on Educational Technology held in Malaysia in December 1977. Attended by thirteen Member States, this meeting placed special emphasis on the development of low-cost teaching aids. Following these activities, teachers were able to produce teaching aids, such as models and charts, from locally available materials and resources; these simple aids were cheap and easily manipulated, and extensive use was made of them. In some cases, students also took part in design and production, practicing ‘learning by doing’ and ‘discovering science’ whilst experimenting with the devices they had helped to make, and in this way enhancing their knowledge and skills. In 1978-1980 several national and sub-regional workshops were organized on the same subject in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. Various materials designed, developed and used in these countries were identified before convening the workshops, and then demonstrated, evaluated, improved upon by participants, and later described in case studies. One of the most valuable outcomes of these activities was the initiative taken by the APEID Secretariat at UNESCO’s Regional Office for Education in Bangkok to select the most original teaching aids and, together with instruction sheets on how to make, how to use, and how to adapt these aids, to publish four volumes of Inventories of low-cost educational materials. These inventories gradually became one of APEID’s most popular publications, widely distributed within the region. They have also served as a model for countries in other parts of the world. |
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THE 1990s: SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL LITERACY FOR ALL
As we approach the end of the century, development problems and their
humanistic and social aspects are becoming a top piority for the
international community, as reflected through the major United Nations
conferences organized between 1992 and 1996, on Environment, Population,
Social Development, Women, Human Settlements and Food. For some decades
now, there has been growing concern at how successful science teaching
has been because students seem unprepared for using science in ordinary
life. Therefore, just as it has been necessary for nearly a century to
be able to read and write to make one’s way in society, so a certain
kind of knowledge is necessary today in order to get by in a world that
is steeped in science and technology. This so-called ‘scientific and
technological literacy movement’ (14) goes hand in hand with new
developments in computer literacy and environment education. (15)
In recognition of this need for ‘a world community of scientifically and
technologically literate
citizens’ a major initiative, Project 2000+, (16) was launched in 1992,
much of the impetus coming from the International Council of Associations
for Science Education (ICASE). (17) An initial survey and pilot project phase
was followed by the holding of an International Forum on Scientific and
Technological Literacy for All in 1993, where guidelines for designing,
implementing and
evaluating projects were developed, including one on scientific, technical
and vocational
education for girls in Africa. It was recommended that, by 2001, all
countries should have set up appropriate structures and activities to
foster scientific and technological literacy for all.
In the same spirit, the opening section of UNESCO’s World Science Report
1996 consists of an introduction to scientific literacy by the Chilean
biologist Francisco Ayala. The Report also draws attention to science and
technology’s ‘gender dimension’, the disparity remaining high in favour of
boys and men.
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Edgar Faure (France) Chairman of the International Commission on the Development of Education As technology affects more and more people, compelling them to understand and master the technical world, so education in theoretical and practical technology becomes necessary to everyone. Learning to Be, UNESCO, 1972
Amadou-Mahtar M’Bow Histoire mondiale de l’éducation. L’apport des organisations internationales à l’éducation contemporaine, G. Mialaret et J. Vial, PUF, 1981
Federico Mayor World Science Report, UNESCO, 1993 Project 2000+ is a commitment to work actively to reach the goal of scientific and technological literacy for all. Opening session of the Project 2000+, Forum, 1993
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| TO KNOW MORE (see also CD-ROM, vol. I) |
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FOOTNOTES:
(14) For more details on STL see Prospects, Vol XXV N°1, March 1995, Open file: Science Teaching for Sustainable Development.
(16) The Project 2000+ Declaration. The Way Forward.
(17) ICASE, an international NGO enhancing the efforts of regional and national associations of science teachers.
TO KNOW MORE (see also CD-ROM, Vol. I)
1971
