Challenges for Science Education

Scientific knowledge is the common heritage of humankind. It is the only this treasure of humankind that can provide a possible remedy to conquer inequality and to bring about an acceptable quality of life and a purpose, for a majority of the people of the world. A case should be made for science and science education in the developing world, a case for optimal support for science and education even in the poorest and the least-developed of the countries of the world. Some of the main problems that should be overcome for a sustainable and proper science education are; Inadequate teacher compensation and professional development to attract, prepare and retain high-quality teachers, Insufficient number of science and technology teachers’ taking active role in the preparation of the programs, The insufficient in-service training of the science teacher in the transition state of a new program, Compartmentalized subjects taught by teachers isolated within and across departments, Students generally lack motivation and have low self confidence in learning, Persistent achievement gaps in science and math among many student subgroups, demographic changes, The huge numbers of the students in the class, The informational education orienting students towards only exam achievement, The broken link with other lessons, Insufficient physical conditions of schools (less laboratory opportunities), The intensive curriculum but insufficient time allocation for science education and The instruction of lesson in an information level and students in passive position (only listening and writing), teachers in active position (writing on the board and teaching in a classical way), In this paper, the problems of challenges for science education and soultions to overcome these problems are presented. The lack of epistemological role of science is emphasized and the productive use of history and philosophy of science is proposed in science education.