HISTORY OF SCIENCE CURRICULUM IN NIGERIA



The teaching of science in Nigerian schools dated back to the era of  Christian missionaries,  who brought  the western education   into the  country. With  the establishment of  church missionary  society (CMS)  grammar school  in logos  in  1859,  roman catholic missionary (RCM),  Wesleyan Methodist mission, African mission of south  Baptist  convention, united Presbyterian church  of Scotland  mission, the qua ibo mission, some rudiments of  science education were injected into  the schools curriculum including arithmetic, algebra, geometry and physiology. 


Missionaries also established   other schools namely;  grammar,  teacher  training , pastoral, vocational, agricultural and introduction of rudiments of science in  school, curricular and teaching of them. The curriculum  consisted of  4RS namely, reading, writing ,  arithmetic and religion. The hope  Waddell institute in  Calabar founded in 1861,   St. Andrews  College Oyo  1876 , Wesleyan training  institute  of  1905,  Baptist training centre,  Ogbomoso  of  1899 etc had science subjects in  their curricular.

Up to  1932, there was no post secondary  institution for the learning of science after the only specialized institution, the medical school attached to the CMS theological institute founded at Abeokuta in  1961 ,  folded up.  The  teaching  of science gained a better footing  about  1920  because of the recommendation of  an  African education commission toured the British  west African colonies  under the sponsorship  of the  Phelps stokes  fund of America. 

The period of  1883  -1930  marked the beginning of colonial government participation in  the development of science in  secondary  education . the  education ordinance of   1980   marked another phase in  the development of  science teaching in schools, which made nature study mandatory in both primary and secondary schools, which latter gave way  to science. 

The major  development in science curriculum took palce in nigieira strating from 19321,  the establsihement of   yaba college of  upgraded  1963  to yaba college of technology, to run coruses in engineering, medicine, science, agriculture, survey and teacher training  college  fill  vacancies  in relevant government developments. It also produced first set of graduates who taught science in secondary schools and   played major role in laying the foundation for the development of appropriate curriculum for science in  the secondary schools 

The establishment of the university college Ibadan in 1948 as college university of London following the   report of the Elliot Commission  Higher education set up  in  1943, which reloaded the establishment of a university in Nigeria. It  remained with status of university of London up to  1960  and started awarding  its own  degree and became university of Ibadan  in  1962.

The introduction of higher school certificate (HSC) in 1951 it  gave  schools the opportunities to offer  Chemistry, Biology an Physics at higher level, with emphasis   on laboratory work to meet  the practical requirements of  science subjects. In 1952, an   examination board was set up with its headquarters in Accra, Ghana. This followed Jeffrey report of 1950. The board later became  the west African examination council  (WAEC),  which received the curriculum of school subjects  including science , with its  first examination in  1995.

The Science Teacher Association of Nigeria (STAN), established on the  30th  November, 1957, revised the science curriculum of   WAEC and  HSC in May  1968. The  Federal colleges of arts,  science and technology at Idadan in  1950,  Zaria  in  1952  and Enugu in  1954 administered a fairly  comprehensive curriculum in science education and science related fields eg architecture, engineering, pharmacy etc. these college latter became  O all in  1962,  Abu Zaria in 1962  and  UNN in  1960  respectively. 

The launching into space of the satellite “sputnik”   by the soviet union (RUSSIA) in 1957, sparked off science curriculum development  efforts in the western world. This led to the awareness as regards the need to re-examine the  school science curriculum objectives, content and evaluation. In Nigeria , during   early  1960’s  science curriculum was geared towards the fulfillment  of overseas examination requirement  example  Cambridge school certificate examination or the  London general certificate in education. In  recent times, a clear pattern for science project  development at the primary and junior  secondary school levels   has been the integration  of subject from the field  of science  and technology. At the  senior secondary,  the emphasis has been on inquiry and problem solving  activities
Several science curricular  were developed  in  many countries   such as those of the physical science study committee (PSSC), CHEMICAL  education  materials study (CHEM. Study),  biological science curriculum (BSC), all in  the US  and the Nuffidd science projects in  the UK.
For Nigeria, the historic national curriculum conference held from  8th -12th Sept  1969  spurred  various bodies including government agencies to develop  science curricular for  both  primary and secondary levels  of education, which brought  about the new NPE of  1977 revised in 1981  which  ushered in  6-3-3-4 system of education with  the following  

1.      The Nigerian secondary schools project  (NSSP) by the defunct comparative education study and adaptation centre (CESAC), now   part of NERDC.
2.      the nigieria integrated science project (NTSP)
3.      BASIC SCIENCE FOR NIGIEIRAN SECONDARY SCHOOL (BSNSS) by CESAC and STAIN
4.      Primary Education Improvement Project: Northern  States Primary School Project (NSPSP) by the Institute of Education, Abu, Zaria
5.      Science is Discovering:  Mid-Western State Primary Science Project (MSPSP) by  Abaraka  College of Education.
6.         Primary Education Improvement Project: Northern  States primary  science project (WSPSP) by the faculty of  Education OAU.
7.      African Primary Science Project (APSP)  by the   African Development Council
8.      Lagos  State Primary Science  Project (LSPSP) by  the  Lagos State Ministry of Education.
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