Biology as the study of animals and plants has been an integral component of all cultures and religions. The folklore is rich in stories of animals conveying distinct messages of accepted ethics and morals. There is a wealth of traditional knowledge of living things amongst people of all continents. Knowledge relating specifically to healing and harmful properties of local fauna and flora has been passed from generation to generation as part of our heritage through non-formal education and training for life in the community. With modernization has come specialization whereby people are trained to do different jobs in the community. Thus education, once the responsibility of the community, came to be regarded as a special purview of teachers to be had only in schools. As a consequence, biological knowledge as part of the cultural heritage for survival lost much of its significance.
In many countries of Africa, the Arab States, Asia and Latin America, there is usually a single centralized curriculum designed for urban and rural children alike with a view to avoid discrimination and provide equality of opportunity. Within this curriculum, biology is rarely taught as a distinct subject at the primary and lower secondary levels. Instead, it is usually offered as a part of environmental or nature study at the former and as general or integrated science at the latter stage. It is only at the secondary stage that we find biology as a well-established school curricular discipline in most educational systems with public and institutional support. Science as part of general education has always been viewed as a subject of life-long utility in school curricula. Biology, by virtue of its usefulness in everyday life and in sociocultural change, forms an integral component of almost all school science courses. Recently, the trend in many countries has been to switch to environmental studies with curricular content based mainly on three clusters: living things, matter and energy, and earth and universe.
Traditional Setting In the traditional setting, the scope of school biology education was rather limited. As an elitist subject, it catered to select students who were intending to become either research scientists or medical practitioners. Accordingly, school biology courses concentrated on describing the structure and function of selected types of organisms representing various levels of biological organisation. Biology was taught as an experimental science with emphasis on biological principles to bring out similarities between organisms. In the 1960s, following the lead of the NSF supported Biological Sciences Curricular Study (BSCS) in the United States and the Nuffield Science Programme in the United Kingdom, many countries reoriented their biology education in terms of what biologists actually do. Methods of developing and testing knowledge, concepts, and theories that are central to the discipline of biology were highlighted in the school biology curricula. In order to help its developing Member States, UNESCO, in collaboration with the International Union of Biological Sciences’ Commission on Biology Education (IUBS-CBE), initiated the Biology Pilot Project in Africa as part of its Programme and Budget for the biennium 1967-1968. The course content was organised around important unifying concepts revealed through the process of investigation. New teaching-learning materials were designed to give students the opportunity to learn by doing. The Project was complemented by launching a series of publications under the heading of "New Trends In Biology Teaching."
Science and Society Axis In the Seventies, a significant drive for the socio-economic applications of science to a vast range of changing human needs gathered momentum. With increasing implications of developments in biological sciences to society, a social approach to biology education was promoted. This initiated a movement to change the orientation of biology discipline as a curricular subject to functionality of biology for the majority of students who would not enter the university. A Preparatory Group Meeting, convened by UNESCO (1975), suggested that school biology education content, while consistent with the new knowledge, should be relevant to the real life and work experience of the learner. Thus, to support the national efforts in adapting biology education to the sociocultural context, UNESCO, in collaboration with IUBS-CBE, produced biology teaching materials relating to some aspects of human biology, such as nutrition, human reproduction, and disease. In particular, IUBS-CBE cooperated with UNESCO in organizing the International Conference on Biology Education in Sweden in 1975 with a view to determine the major problems and trends in biology education. Based on its findings, published as Volume IV of "New Trends in Biology Teaching", a long-term Program of Action for UNESCO was prepared. It emphasized the change from the closely directed learning of facts to conceptual understanding, application of acquired knowledge and skills to solve emerging life’s problems, and linking biology education to socioeconomic needs, productive work, and development. Accordingly, UNESCO, in cooperation with IUBS-CBE, promoted innovations to increase the relevance of biology teaching to the various needs and socioeconomic priorities of its Member States.
Thus, trends such as "science in society" and "science, technology and society" placed biology teaching in the context of social needs of everyday life. This shifted the focus of biology education from, "what to know?" to "what to do?" Accordingly, efforts were made to reorient the biology teacher education and training programmes to suit the changing goals of biology education. The 1980’s marked the surge of a new wave demanding science and technology to be an integral component of general education in schools with a view to turn out future citizens as responsible productive persons in the society. With this, the purpose of biology education and teacher training shifted towards social action, marking a change from "what to do?" to "what to become?"
With sociocultural and economic changes occurring as a consequence of scientific and technological developments, it became clear that biology education should aim at preparing people to face new situations and changing social patterns in such a way as to satisfy both the individual needs of learners and the collective requirements of the society. The Association for Science Education (ASE) in the United Kingdom (1979) suggested introduction of some aspects of the world of work into the school science curriculum. In order to improve children’s appreciation of the world of industry and work, biology education undertook the task to encourage public awareness of the inter-relationship between science, technology, and society as well as to stimulate attitudes that would prove conducive for their preparation for the world of work . Accordingly, IUBS-CBE devoted two of its annual meetings (1978 London, UK and 1979 Kiel, Germany) to the topic of "Biological Education for Community Development." This was followed by the publication, "Teaching Science Out-of-School with Special Reference to Biology" (Meyer and Rao, eds., 1984), based on the proceedings of the IUBS-CBE meeting held in Singapore in 1981. In addition, the Commission produced a series of documents published by UNESCO in its Science and Technology Education Document Series (STEDS). These included: Genetically-Based Biological Technologies (1984); Biological Systems, Energy Sources and Biology Teaching (1984); Ecology, Ecosystem Management and Biology Teaching (1984); Agriculture and Biology Teaching (1984); Human Development and Evolution and Biology Teaching (1985); Field Work in Ecology for Secondary Schools in Tropical Countries (1988); Repair and Maintenance of Biology Laboratory Equipment (1989); and Teaching Biotechnology in Schools (1990).
Science and Development Following the United Nations Conference on Science and Technology for Development (UNCSTD), 1979, the concern for modernization through science and technology in many developing countries gathered momentum. Science and technology education became increasingly acknowledged as an essential contributor to national development. The International Congress on Science and Technology Education and National Development (UNESCO, 1981) bears ample testimony to this effect. The Bangalore Conference, sponsored by ICSU, UNESCO and ICASE (1985), encouraged science education reform in terms of future human needs and various quality issues such as ethics, social responsibility, agriculture, industry, technology, health, food, energy, environment; land, mineral, and water resources; and information transfer. In line with this, IUBS-CBE developed such documents as "Biological Education and Community Development" in 1980, containing a collection of reports and papers presented during its annual meetings of 1978 and 1979 and edited by Kelly and Schaefer; followed by "Health Education and Biology Teaching" in 1984; "Leisure, Values and Biology Teaching" in 1987; "Biology and Human Welfare: Case Studies in Teaching Applied Biology" in 1988; "System Thinking in Biology Education" in 1989; and a book on "Basic Human Needs: An Interdisciplinary and International View" by Schaefer, (1992).
This ushered a shift in emphasis towards social action, extending the slogan, "Science, Technology and Society (STS)" to "Science, Technology, Society and Personal Development (STSP)." The personal development aspect, as described in the UNESCO Regional Workshop on Science and Technology Education at Lower Secondary Level (1991) recognized the possibilities within the science curriculum to enhance students’ personal skills in logical thinking, expression, personal management, self-directed learning, co-operation and responsible action. This approach demanded more attention to teaching children how to learn, manage their own learning, analyze problems, as well as design and implement solutions.
Science for All It was recognized that science and technology cannot contribute successfully towards national development in the absence of a broad base of scientifically literate populace (Yager, 1989; Bowyer, 1990). Consequently, the goal of an "appropriate science education for all" started assuming greater prominence. The Science Council of Canada (1984) commissioned a study entitled "Science for Every Student." It pointed out that Canada needed science education that could: develop citizens able to participate fully in the political and social choices facing a technological society; train those with special interest in science and technology fields for further study; provide an appropriate preparation for the modern work world; and stimulate intellectual and moral growth to help students develop into rational autonomous individuals. Similarly, the "Science for All Americans" Project, launched in 1985, presented what all USA students should know and be able to do in science, mathematics and technology by the time they graduate from the high school. It also emphasized "understanding of the world through the eyes of science." Another effort for "Science for All" can be cited from Asia and the Pacific (UNESCO, 1983). In this context, science referred to all those aspects of knowledge that result from the application of the scientific method for investigating real life situations relating to natural phenomena, the material world, and the immediate environment, including scientific concepts, processes and attitudes. Its purpose was to enable the whole population to participate in the responsible use of science and technology for development. The 1990 World Declaration of Education for All and the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development provided the driving force for the Project 2000+ Declaration. It urged NGOs, INGOs and governments to work together to enhance scientific and technological literacy for all within the Project 2000+.
International Commission on Education A significant event of the 1990s, with consequences for the future of biology education, was the establishment of the International Commission on Education for the 21st Century by UNESCO in 1993. Based on a worldwide process of consultation and analysis, the Commission highlighted the role of education in personal and social development. It also predicted that the coming century, dominated by globalization, will face some serious tensions between: the global and the local; the universal and the individual; tradition and modernity; long-term and short-term considerations; the need for competition and the concern for equality of opportunity; the extraordinary expansion of knowledge and human capacity to assimilate it; the spiritual and the material. Irrespective of diversity of cultures and systems of social organization, the Commission believed that education could serve as one of the means to foster more harmonious human development to overcome the said tensions and maintain social cohesion. Accordingly, the Commission proposed and described four pillars as the foundations of education: learning to know, learning to do, learning to be, and learning to live together. In order to deal with the fast change of traditional patterns of life and to meet new situations arising in our personal lives and working conditions, the Commission put greater emphasis on the last pillar, learning to live together. Furthermore, to keep abreast and live in harmony with the ever changing world, the Commission supported learning throughout life and pointed out that the only way to satisfy this is for each individual "to learn how to learn" (UNESCO, 1996).
Future Outlook The Twentieth Century is often called the century of Physics and Information Technologies. During our own lifetime we have seen the development of television, computers, satellites and the Internet. These technologies will continue to affect our lives and our social, cultural, economic and educational systems. Recently, however, Biological Sciences have been making tremendous strides. As we stand at the threshold of the 21st Century, we see the beginning of another scientific revolution that is likely to dominate the new century, sparked, in particular, by research in biotechnology and the success of the Human Genome Project. In the next couple of years, people will be able to assess their own genetic susceptibilities to various diseases and hence be able to make their necessary lifestyle adjustments in a way that has never happened before. Gene therapy may replace some of the current medical practices for the treatment of certain forms of disease. Extending already to other species of microbes, plants and animals, genetic manipulation is expected to take us into a brave new world with greater societal impact than that of the technological revolution of the 20th Century. Influencing almost all our activities, from inception to the grave, this revolution will require profound decisions with respect to the ethical, legal, social, cultural, educational, and development issues that are sure to arise, affecting our personal lives and society in ways that we have never experienced before. In order to be prepared for this, it is imperative that biologists, media, educational planners and biology educators work together to ensure that future citizens who are in school today and the public at large are thoroughly educated and made aware of the basic and relevant knowledge of biology and biotechnology, so as to enable them to make informed decisions to meet any emerging situation.
Learning Society
The exponential growth of biological knowledge and development of new information and communication technologies along with the concept of learning throughout life lead us straight to what we may call the "learning society." Such a society is based on the acquisition, renewal, and use of knowledge. The hallmark of this learning society will be the provision of many and varied opportunities of learning both at school and at work in social, cultural, and economic life to fulfill one’s potential. This requires two important actions: firstly, to make new knowledge more accessible in more ways to more people; and secondly, to make more knowledge more useful to learners. It will also require greater co-operation and new partnerships involving family, industry, business, voluntary associations, and individuals active in new information and communication technologies. Many institutions have already started pooling their resources to create new educational courses using computers and Internet as educational tools for distance learning. Libraries with their vast holdings can work with educators to provide educational content to meet the changing needs of school biology curricula. With similar collaboration, television and satellite can also be exploited for the same purpose.
Humans, Environment, and Sustainable Society
With ever new knowledge and tools of science and technology developing during the last few decades, humans magnified their role as a dominant force in nature, modifying its physical, chemical and biological systems at rates and scales larger than ever. The growing human population has caused, among other things the following major changes: altering and/or depleting major natural resource systems; altering biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen, water, synthetic chemicals, etc.; disturbing ecological balance; transforming land, sea, and air; depletion of the ozone layer; producing genetically manipulated species and/or populations; loss of biological diversity; depletion of forests and fisheries; and environmental degradation and pollution.
These changes are direct or indirect consequences of our thinking, values, and practices in social, economic, and political affairs. If not checked, many of our current actions will soon put at risk the future we wish for human society. The need is now evident to ensure a society that is more sustainable. In fact, while accentuating the global environmental challenges, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, held in Rio in 1992, expressed the urgency of sustainable development for the world community. To achieve this, it is essential that we get our thinking right and new values sorted out. The most critical challenges facing such a society include conservation, restoration, and rational management of world’s natural resources.
Humans and their socio-economic systems are intimately dependent upon ecological systems, as these provide a broad range of essential goods and services to humanity. In fact, they form the life-support systems of all life on the planet. Ecological goods and services provide a key link to understanding how changes in diversity, climate, stratospheric ozone, as well as land and sea transformations and cycles of water and nitrogen have immediate and long-term consequences for humanity. Ecosystem services include purification of our air and water; mitigation of floods and droughts; detoxification and decomposition of waste; generation and renewal of soil and soil fertility; pollination of crops and natural vegetation; control of agricultural pests; dispersal of seeds and translocation of nutrients; and maintenance of biodiversity. Hence, biology education as part of general education, emphasizing these and other relevant topics, offers one of the most effective means of confronting the challenges of the future. Its goal should be to make people more knowledgeable, better informed, ethical, responsible, critical, and capable of continuous learning and exercising rational choice of options based on proper knowledge and information. In the light of biological revolution, the discipline of biology should be woven with the social, cultural, economic, and political issues. Thus treated, biology education can easily help to sensitize people to create a sustainable society. This question was discussed in more detail in the IUBS-CBE meeting held in Moscow in 1997.
Biology Education Agenda
In the fast changing world of tomorrow, there will be far less stability, and as a consequence, people may have to change directions in their careers and lifestyles. With the inventions of new technologies to take up the routine or dangerous tasks, there will also be an increasing amount of leisure. Of all the ills that presently beset us, none is more pernicious than the fragmentation of knowledge into arts and science and their corresponding disciplines. Life and its problems do not fit into such neat compartments. These divisions are only for convenience and do not accord with the nature of our experience of reality. With recent advances in scientific knowledge and their applications in solving emerging global problems, the traditional subject boundaries in science are fast fading, giving greater significance and vitality to bridging sciences of biochemistry, biophysics, and material sciences. To be realistic, biology education must interact with other school disciplines, particularly with social sciences and humanities, to be of use to society in solving its current problems.
Biology education, over the years, has undergone significant changes in its perception. It is increasingly recognized as an essential background for socio-economic growth and stability. As such, it should be seen in a broader perspective, i.e. as catering to prepare biologically literate populace capable of contributing towards sustainable development. It can also help to improve the quality of human situation through informed decision-making based on judicious understanding and rational utilisation of biological knowledge and biological technology in such areas as agricultural production, nutrition, health, population control, natural resource management, and environmental improvement. The new biology education content must accommodate these issues in meeting the challenges of the environmentally and socially sustainable development. Information and communication technologies have, indeed, created great educational possibilities, but to succeed, political will, proper planning and concerted actions are equally necessary.
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