CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Problem Education has been very important through the ages and it can be defined as an organized and sustained instruction designed to communicate a combination of knowledge, skill and understanding valuables for all activities of life. Numerous groups during this century have identified what they believe the goals of education should be. One of the most widely cited reports is that of the commission on the reorganization of secondary education which in 1918 stated the goals of education as the seven cardinal principles: health, command of fundamental processes, worthy home membership, vocation, citizenship, worthy use of leisure and ethical conduct. Although neither science nor any of the other school subjects was included as one of the seven principles, the role and importance of science in achieving the seven cardinal principles is obvious. The world is fast becoming scientific in thinking and behaviors that without good knowledge of science, it might be difficult for people to adequately function in it. The purpose of exposing children to science instruction right from primary school level is not necessarily to turn them into scientist per se but to provide favorable scientific attitudes of ‘finding out’ and ‘hands-on‘ and to enable them raise questions about things that intrigue them.
In a study on the impact of science on the society, Bertrand & Russell (1952) have shown that our time is an age of science. Science affects every aspect of our lives; what we eat and what we wear, what we do as work and what we do as play; what we think and what we feel; even how we are born and how we die. Few moments in our lives, we are touched by the products and processes of science. Because of the scientific nature of our society and the individual needs of its members, every person, in order to function