New trends in physics teaching, v.4; The ... - unesdoc - Unesco

New Trends in Physics Teaching IV
The content which children have to learn in elementary science and in lower secondary science
is extensive. Further examination is required to see whether learning by inquiry is possible.
TEACHING ABOUT ENERGY IN UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOLS
Although upper secondary education is not compulsory, about 93 per cent of the children who
finish their lower secondary course now want to go on to upper secondary education in one form
or another (generally, a three-year course). Upper secondary education has become quasicompulsory.
Reflecting this situation and others, the course of study for upper secondary schools
was revised in 1978 [ 51 . Six subjects have been set up in science.
1. Science I: 4 credits, required at the tenth grade
2. Science 11: 2 credits, selective
3. Physics: 4 credits, selective
4. Chemistry: 4 credits, selective
5. Biology: 4 credits, selective
6. Earth science: 4 credits, selective
(1 credit: 1 period per week throughout a year)
‘Science I’ and ‘Science 11’ are the subjects which are newly set up in the revised course of
study for senior high schools. ‘Science I’ is a required subject for all students at the tenth grade.
The objectives of the course are concerned with the basic principles and laws which relate to the
motion of objects, change of substances, the evolution of living things, the balance of the natural
world through observation and experiment, and the close relationship between nature and human
lives. ‘Science I’ has the character of an integrated science with five main areas of study: force
and energy (force and motion, the motion of a falling body, work and heat, transformation and
conservation of energy); composition and change of substance (the various units which compose
substances, elements, amount of substance, the mole, quantitative relations in chemical reactions);
evolution (the cell and its division, reproduction and generation, heredity and variation, evolution
of living things); the balance of the natural world (the motion of the Earth, form and state of the
Earth, incoming and outgoing radiation, ecosystems and the circulation of matter); and human
beings and nature (nature resources, solar energy, the utilization of nuclear power and the
preservation of the natural environment).
‘Science 11’ is intended for students who want to learn additional science after they have
finished ‘Science 1’. This course has some unusual features. First, instead of following a definite
syllabus, students may choose freely from three main themes. These are (a) observation of and
experimentation with some specified phenomena, stressing the process of inquiry; (b) the investigation
of a natural environment (field studies on living things or the local area) and (c) a case
history of science studying the nature of intellectual activity in a scientific field with a historical
approach to some important principles and laws. Second, a student may choose a theme freely
from these three themes and can spend many hours on his study. Third, ‘Science 11’ offers a high
degree of freedom to both teachers and students.
Although this course is unique, it is questionable what fraction of the total enrolment at senior
high school will wish to choose it.
‘Physics’,‘Chemistry’,‘Biology’,
and ‘Earth Science’ are subjects which provide an understand-
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