GAST to stimulate national debate on teaching Science
The Ghana Association of Science Teachers (GAST) is to stimulate a national debate on a paradigm shift towards new trends in the teaching of Science in schools.
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The debate is designed on the premise of examining how science education had benefited industry in relation to national development, the role of parents in promoting successful science education in their children and why Asian countries and their governments perform better than Ghana tackling problems related to science education.
The National President of GAST, Reverend Thomas Kofi Arboh, announced this at the launch of the National Science Week and the induction of new officers at the OLA Senior High School (SHS) in Ho at the weekend.
It was on the theme: “New trends in Science education: The role of stakeholders.”
International study
Rev. Arboh said an international study on Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), which is conducted every four years, had exposed the nation negatively, as results from the study did not favour the country in terms of ranking, adding that Ghana had mostly been among nations at the bottom of the study, while the Asian countries such as China, Tapei and Singapore had always remained at the top.
He said revelations from the study posed a great challenge on how to teach and study Science in the country and said although government’s efforts towards promoting science education was commendable, it had not wholly achieved the intended results.
Rev. Arboh called for the introduction of a mobile science laboratory for every district, municipality and metropolis equipped with basic science tools and chemicals and to move to the less-endowed areas within the district to engage students in simple science experiments prescribed in the syllabus, adding that, this would lead to enhancing a nationwide performance in the area of science.
Scientific literacy
In a keynote address, a lecturer at the Department of Microbiology and Immunisation of the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS), Mr Ibrahim Jamfaru, said scientific literacy was essential in an emerging society in which curiosity was required for the explanation of every phenomenon.
He said without scientific knowledge and applications, a country would remain a developing country in the global village, and stressed that science was held in the highest regard and had been and would continue to be the trend.
Mr Jamfaru said improvisation to keep pace with the rest of the world must discontinue and that students’ disinterest in science was a bad sign for change and progress in the education sector, pointing out that, no country could develop if 40 per cent of its population failed to understand basic concepts in science.
He called on governments to step up support for science education and policy intervention and technological innovation in science education towards the realisation of real goals, as well as motivation for science teachers in addition to private and corporate partnership to motivate students.
