AME 201- Curriculum Trend in Home Science

Introduction This unit is a continuation of Units 21 and 22 in SED 701 (Foundations of Science Education). The unit centre on the development of science education which is concerned with understanding the learning and teaching of science. The main focus of the unit is the development of science education in Nigeria before and since independence. 2.1 Objectives At the end of this unit, you should be able to: ­ explain development of science education in Nigeria before and since independence. ­ mention the roles played by Federal Government of Nigeria in science education development since independence to date. ­ List the curriculum agents involved in making teaching of science possible in our schools. 2.2 Science Education in Nigeria Before Independence The history of modern science teaching in Nigeria is very recent. When western education was introduced to Nigeria in 1843 science was not part of the school curriculum. Examples was on literary education. Science education in Nigeria started from the primary school unlike what obtained in most western countries where science teaching grew from the Universities to higher schools. The foundations for modern science education in Nigeria was laid between 1861 and 1897 when rudiments of science were developing into full science course (Aliyu 1984). By 1926, Nature Study had become a popular subject in some Primary Schools and Teacher Training Colleges. Elementary Science was taught at the first Government Teachers’ College in the North. Later a Teacher Training College which specialized in teaching Rural Science was established in Minna. The depth and coverage of the subject were shallow because of scarcity of teachers and resources. Post Secondary institutions were opened for the study of science due to pressure by some nationalists who studied abroad. The first of its kind was Yaba Higher College established in 1934. It was aimed at provision of 18 intermediate manpower in Medicine, Agriculture, Survey, Engineering and Teachers to teach basis science subjects in secondary schools. Most Nigerian secondary schools started offering General Science as a single subject. It started losing its popularity when students who successfully completed the course could not be accepted into high school to study Chemistry, Physics or Biology. By the mid 1950s most Nigerian secondary schools were operating the two-tier approach where every student was taught General Science for two years in a five year education programme. Students were allowed to specialize in the last three years in two or three subjects of their choice. The West African Examination Council took over from Cambridge the School Certificate Examination in 1950. From that period changes were introduced to reflect the need to indigenise the content and scope of education in Nigerian secondary schools. In an effort to popularize science in the schools, science teachers all over the country met in 1957 to inaugurate the Science Teachers’ Association of Nigeria. The Federal Government later established the Federal School of Science in Lagos in 1958.