Popularising science education

Teaching science requires special attention and special training of teachers in teaching methods that invoke reasoning and curiosity

Science education for the future needs to accommodate changing views of science and its teaching, and changing views of professional development. That science education in Bangladesh is inadequate is just stating the obvious. In fact, it is bad enough to scare students away. There is a long list of problems with science education in the country. Textbooks written for boards and colleges are dreary and uninteresting, and only overload students with facts. These are terse in their explanations, and care little for graphic presentations. Teachers are either untrained or poorly trained, and hence uninspiring. Many have poor knowledge of the subject they teach, and hence discourage questions, and kill curiosity.

Examinations demand memorisation, so that students have no reason to understand and internalise the subject matter. Laboratory facilities are not available except in private elite schools or a few well-looked-after public schools. In most public schools, where lab equipment exists, students are not allowed to handle it for fear of causing damage, and the equipment is used by teachers to only demonstrate experiments to the students. There is no reliable survey data available, but it is safe to say that students are in general scared of studying science in schools and colleges. Most students in the higher classes opt for subjects in the arts and commerce. All of this is because of the way science is taught.

Teaching science requires special attention and special training of teachers in teaching methods that invoke reasoning and curiosity. It also requires laboratory equipment to let students explore and verify phenomena and learn methods of scientific inquiry. It requires textbooks that make scientific phenomena understandable through systematic exploration. End-chapter exercises in textbooks must not ask recall questions, but demand thinking, reasoning and analysis. The same is true for examinations.

One of the biggest issues in science education in Bangladesh, however, is the medium of instruction, an issue on which our policymakers have been vacillating when it comes to teaching in Bangladesh English. The issue of the medium of instruction in science education is a complex one. Concepts and their explanations can be best conveyed and received in an easily understood language. In this respect, texts written in Bangla should be the best. But the problem arises with terminologies. The latter convey not only concepts behind phenomena but also interconnections between related phenomena through words that are derived from the same root.

Although the government envisages building a ‘Digital Bangladesh’, it is alarming that the number of science students in the country steadily dwindling. Experts fear this trend would create a huge dearth of human resources educated in science and technology in near future unless urgent steps are taken to attract more students in science education.

 

Popularising science education

Teaching science requires special attention and special training of teachers in teaching methods that invoke reasoning and curiosity

Science education for the future needs to accommodate changing views of science and its teaching, and changing views of professional development. That science education in Bangladesh is inadequate is just stating the obvious. In fact, it is bad enough to scare students away. There is a long list of problems with science education in the country. Textbooks written for boards and colleges are dreary and uninteresting, and only overload students with facts. These are terse in their explanations, and care little for graphic presentations. Teachers are either untrained or poorly trained, and hence uninspiring. Many have poor knowledge of the subject they teach, and hence discourage questions, and kill curiosity. Examinations demand memorisation, so that students have no reason to understand and internalise the subject matter. Laboratory facilities are not available except in private elite schools or a few well-looked-after public schools. In most public schools, where lab equipment exists, students are not allowed to handle it for fear of causing damage, and the equipment is used by teachers to only demonstrate experiments to the students. There is no reliable survey data available, but it is safe to say that students are in general scared of studying science in schools and colleges. Most students in the higher classes opt for subjects in the arts and commerce. All of this is because of the way science is taught. Teaching science requires special attention and special training of teachers in teaching methods that invoke reasoning and curiosity. It also requires laboratory equipment to let students explore and verify phenomena and learn methods of scientific inquiry. It requires textbooks that make scientific phenomena understandable through systematic exploration. End-chapter exercises in textbooks must not ask recall questions, but demand thinking, reasoning and analysis. The same is true for examinations. One of the biggest issues in science education in Bangladesh, however, is the medium of instruction, an issue on which our policymakers have been vacillating when it comes to teaching in Bangladesh English. The issue of the medium of instruction in science education is a complex one. Concepts and their explanations can be best conveyed and received in an easily understood language. In this respect, texts written in Bangla should be the best. But the problem arises with terminologies. The latter convey not only concepts behind phenomena but also interconnections between related phenomena through words that are derived from the same root. Although the government envisages building a Digital Bangladesh, it is alarming that the number of science students in the country steadily dwindling. Experts fear this trend would create a huge dearth of human resources educated in science and technology in near future unless urgent steps are taken to attract more students in science education.