SCHOOL SCIENCE AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENTIFIC CULTURE - A REVIEW OF CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE-EDUCATION IN AFRICA

The significant role science plays in the development of an individual and a nation has led to its inclusion in the school curriculum since the early part of the nineteenth century. The values, ethos, practices and perspective of science for interpreting nature are a part of scie nce education. However, in recent times due to a combination of factor s, school science has been seen to promote a mythic text book science rather than present the true image of science and reflect the real nat ure and outcome of scientific enterprise. If current developments occu rring around the world are anything to go by, globalization with its a ttendant economic, political, social and other spin-offs, together wit h the phenomenal development in telecommunications, communications tec hnology and computer technology will affect every person living on the globe in the twenty-first century. To fully understand, appreciate an d effectively use all these developments for meaningful learning, scie ntific culture must permeate the society and the every;day thoughts an d actions of ordinary people. For the developing countries of Africa d ominated and governed by non-western socio-cultural factors, western s cience means an imposition of one culture over another. It means the r eplacement of the anthropomorphic worldview with a mechanistic one. Th is situation, amongst many others, would further militate against the race to development by African nations. This paper reviews the advent of science into Africa, the curret state of school science in Africa a nd discusses the possibilities for, and implications of, harnessing tr aditional African thought system and Western science to develop an eff ective culture for Africa of the twenty-first century.