Introducing science as part of basic education: A case study in Trinidad and Tobago
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Date
1982
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Publisher
International Council on Education for Teaching
Abstract
Prior to 1975, primary school science was taught as nature study and hygiene in accordance with the 1956 syllabus. Following a 1977 survey of teachers' attitudes to science and the identification of the cognitive development levels of primary school science, a science curriculum (SAPATT) was developed. At the junior secondary level, the WISCIP curriculum is taught almost exclusively; teachers in the five- to seven-year schools devise their own programmes. Three areas must be addressed to meet the demands of the new status accorded to science in the school curriculum--the science curriculum, the teachers, and physical facilities in schools. At the primary level all three are being addressed; efforts at the junior secondary level are thwarted by the general policy for the recruitment of teachers for the secondary level, and by the incohesiveness of the system at this level