NATIONAL TRENDS OF SCIENCE EDUCATION – NIGERIA HISTORY FIRST

In England and Wales schools science is a compulsory subject in the national curriculum. All pupils from 5 to  16  years of age must study science. It  is generally taught as  a single subject science  until sixth form, then splits into subject-specific   a levels (PHYSICS,  CHEMISTRY AND BIOLOGY). However,  the government  has  since expressed its desire that those   pupils who achieve well at the  age  of  14 should be offered the opportunity to study the three  separate sciences from September 2008. In  Scotland the subjects   split into chemistry, physics and biology  at  the age of  13-15 for  standard grades in  these  subjects, and there is also a combined  science standard grade qualification which students can  sit, provided their school offers it. 

In September  2006  a new science programme of study known as  21^st century science as introduced as  a GCSE option  in UK  schools,  to “give all  14 to  16 year olds  a worthwhile and  inspiring experience of science”

In the US,  science education was a scatter of subjects prior to this standardization  in the  1890s  the development of a science curriculum in the US emerged gradually after extended debate  between two ideologies, citizen science  and pre-professional training. As  a result of a conference of 30  leading secondary and  college educators in Florida, the National  Education Association appointed a Committee  of Ten  in  1892   which had authority to  organize future   meetings and appoint subject matter committees  of the major subjects  taught in U.S.  secondary schools. The  committee was composed of ten educators (all men)  and was chaired by Charles Eliot of Harvard university . the committee  of  ten met, and appointed nine conference committees  (Latin,  Greek, English, other modern languages, mathematics, history, civil government and political economy , and  three   in science).

The three conference committees appointed for science were:  physics, astronomy, and chemistry

1.       Natural history 

2.      And geography 

3.      Each committee, appointed by the committee of ten , was composed  of ten leading specialists from colleges and normal schools,   and secondary schools. Each committee met in  a different location in the U.S  the three  science committees  met for three days in the Chicago  area.