Integration: An approach to Science in primary schooling

Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 2, Issue 1, Article 10 (Jun., 2001)
Peter J FENSHAM
Integration: An approach to Science in primary schooling

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HISTORICAL BACKGROUND : 1960 To 1990
- Support from the system
It was not that education systems ignored primary science. Over these twenty five years there is a long record in many countries of efforts by the system to encourage more teaching of science. New materials to assist teachers were periodically developed. A variety of professional development models were tried, from large scale, short intensive sessions, to longer training of small numbers of exemplary teachers who were then be the trainers of others in their own and neighbouring schools. The emphasis on Science in some initial teacher training programs was increased, but the science intentions of their graduates seemed to disappear quickly once the laissez faire attitude about science in schools was encountered.
In 1988/89 I was commissioned with some others to conduct a National Review of Teacher Education in Science - both pre-service and post-service. This involved an extensive study of all the programs and outcomes of the 52 universities and teacher training institutions who were involved in these two levels of teacher education. Most of these institutions did prepare primary teachers. For someone like me, who knew the many efforts and very considerable resources over the years that had been put into trying to lift the level of primary science education, it was a depressing two years.
The general place of Science in primary schooling in Australia was still so bad, after so much effort, that we, as reviewers, briefly considered recommending abandoning Science as part of the primary curriculum. This would, however, have been to deny Australian young children any prospect of learning in, and from the exciting world that Science has opened for humankind. So we did our best to recommend yet another set of ways in which Science could gain a higher profile in the life of primary schools.
Nor was this dismal scene peculiar to Australia. Reports from England, USA and Canada, continental Europe, and many Asian countries were finding the same thing.
Science, after 25 years since it was officially acknowledged, had only a marginal presence in primary schooling.