A Study of the Implementation of the Curricular Provisions in the Schools for the Inculcation of Scientific Attitude Amongst Upper Primary School Students

Abstract

This study was undertaken to identify the gaps in the inculcation of scientific attitude newlineamongst upper primary school students with the objectives to study the curricular newlineprovisions for the inculcation of scientific attitude in the NCF, 2005, to analyse the newlineimplementation of the curricular provisions in the school science curriculum, to gauge newlinethe teachers awareness of scientific attitude skills, to identify the constraints faced by newlinethe teachers for the inculcation of scientific attitude skills, to study the scope of co newlinecurricular activities in the inculcation of scientific attitude skills and to explore the newlinestrategies adopted by teachers in the teaching of science. newlineThis study was exploratory in nature; therefore a qualitative research design was newlinechosen. The sample of the study were 35science teachers and 383 students of newlinevi newline5government and 5 private schools of Delhi The tools employed for the study were newlinecontent analysis, semi structured interviews, observation schedule and questionnaire. newlineThe findings of the study revealed that even though many thoughtful suggestions are newlinegiven in the policy documents but they do not get implemented in the textbooks. A lot newlineis left to the ability and motivation of teachers. The teachers could not identify the newlinescientific attitude skills and thus lack of awareness on the part of the teachers lead to newlinethe absence of scientific attitude skills in their lesson planning. The teachers could not newlineidentify co curricular activities for inculcation of specific scientific attitude skills. The newlineteachers try to relate concepts to daily life and make lessons interesting, yet there is newlinelack of active participation of the learners in the classroom discussions. An newlineunderstanding of the nature of science is essential for the teachers to be able to newlineorganize classroom experiences so that learners are able to think and behave like newlinescientists and inculcate the scientific attitude skills.