Many people struggle to reason why science is in the curriculum. Myself, being a scientist and a teacher believe strongly for science being compulsory and should be taught by specialists at primary school level.

Science is a subject area that people are exposed to everyday, perhaps more than some other subjects, yet it is not perceive it to be particularly important. This instills the idea that the subject knowledge is beyond what is needed to understand the world in which we live in to a suitable degree.

The aim of teaching science in the curriculum in the earliest years should be to impart a desire and curiosity to understand further the reasons why the world is and changes the way it does. When studying science in later years the curriculum focuses on what affects our lives directly rather than developing our imagination into subject areas beyond what we observe on a daily basis. The reason for focusing on the phenomenon in science that we observe on a daily basis is to show the relevance of science and its application in the student’s world. Unfortunately this doesn’t necessarily develop the student’s curiosity to go further and study the subject in future years. Teaching of the subject should focus more on the engineering side of science and practical applications of the science taught.

The reason behind why science is seen as a subject that is too demanding is due partially to the fact that many pupils see it as dull. Another reason why pupils are put off by the subject is the belief that if you study science you can only become a scientist and that the subject knowledge or the benefits of studying science are not transferable to other professions. Other professions they also associate with science are generally known as careers reserved for the brightest individuals such as medicine and that these are not possible for the majority of the students and as such the desire to learn the subject is lost. This is in contrast to other more popular subjects such as applied and practical subjects that have obvious, easy to reach careers and progress in the subject can be seen regularly.

Teaching science as one subject rather than as 3 individual subjects also leads to boredom among pupils who have an interest in physics yet are bored by biology for example. Teachers teaching a science which isn’t their speciality or interest to a pupil is less likely to invoke enthusiasm and interest than a teacher who is, thus the subject of science in general cannot be impart to the best potential by any one teacher.

The subject areas that are currently being taught appear dull to pupils because the subject choice is what they observe on a daily basis and there is no scope for their imagination to extend their curiosity and therefore to increase their desire to learn more.

For the majority of pupils science should not be as it is, an understanding of the phenomenon that they witness on a daily basis, but to extend their imagination and desire to learn beyond that. This would allow them to use the information they have been taught and apply it themselves to their world, giving them a sense of achievement and allowing the learning to continue outside of the classroom. The development of a pupils imagination is key if the student is to be successful in future years of study at university in science, and if the student does not go on to study further, then the imagination and ability of applying knowledge will be useful in any subject area.

Personally I hope to be able to develop a child’s curiosity at a young age and then to push the child to expand their knowledge as broad as possible and consider the wide field of opportunities that is science.