Education Science and Technology and Life

  Schools will have to show a stronger interest in the world of work and maintain closer contact with companies and public authorities. They should invite scientists and persons with practical work experience and send pupils to periods of practical training. In this context students should witness the interplay of science and technology in everyday life and be exposed to more than just the piecemeal application of textbook knowledge. Industry and public administration should be willing to provide training opportunities of this kind for thousands of secondary school pupils. Enabling secondary school pupils to take part in discussions of science and technology problems requires good media. Young people need to learn how to obtain information, where to find it and they need to learn how to assess the reliability of the information found, etc. Efforts should also be made in subjects such as Civics, Sociology, Economics, and Religious knowledge/Ethics to show the importance of scien...

  Teachers of Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Computer Science and Technology should learn how to present their subjects in an engaging manner and to engender interest in them. Their teaching should relate to life experience of their pupils and to their level of intellectual development. In all subjects, not just science and technology subjects, computers should become indispensable teaching aids, just like blackboards and chalk have been up to now. With computers, teachers can achieve new dimensions in illustrating the subject matter being taught, also with regard to variability and simulations. Provided, of course, they have learned how to handle and make full use of the potentials of the new technology, and provided they have the right software, something which was often not the case in the past. In order to allow teaching to relate to the life experience of young people, school textbooks and other teaching materials should be written in language understandable and a...

  Europe's ability to compete in a world of global networks will depend to an ever increasing extent on the scientific and technological education of its citizens. The Committee of Ministers should encourage member States to devote greater attention than in the past to this kind of basic education at school and in the educational system. In addition, prerequisites for lifelong development and refreshment of science and technology literacy will have to be created and promoted in the educational system as a whole. Scientific issues should not be presented at schools just here and there, in bits and pieces, but rather in their full context. Young people should not be trained as narrow-track specialists, but rather to learn how to understand the influence of science and technology on our world in a comprehensive manner. Teachers should show how the meaningful use of science and technology could help to solve major problems facing mankind. Young people need to learn how to learn as ...

  The barriers which stand in the way of acquiring science and technology literacy are not so much the result of dominated and oriented hardware and software (these barriers to understanding may be overcome), but rather the result of monopolistic trends observed in connection with software, something which may lead to standardization, conformism and even manipulation in guiding users through the maze of information on the web. Search engines, so-called "related sites", below-the-surface sales psychology strategies, non-transparent holding companies, all of which are interwoven and interconnected with each another, attempt to steer users. Another example is the technology of encryption. The latter makes safe data transfer possible for private users, for instance when shopping on Internet with their credit cards. The few States has passed restrictive legislation in this area, banning the export of particularly safe encryption systems and thus favoring some companies in their ...

  The predominance of English in the new technologies creates additional barriers based on language. The flexibility of computer software in this regard has improved greatly over the past few years, but it continues to constitute an obstacle and in many cases it blocks access to the use of the new technologies, particularly for the older generation. In many classrooms children may be found who face learning difficulties but who, given appropriate support, would do extremely well in mathematics, science and technology. Given better teaching other children with learning difficulties would acquire at least basic knowledge of science and technology. In many countries the plea for equal opportunities in education has stood in the way of promoting talent in science and technology. With the help of educational research we have come to recognize that particularly among those groups of the population whose level of education is lower, e.g. among migrant workers, minorities, or the disable...

  Although schools offer the same courses to both sexes, consciously or unconsciously, stereotypes regarding the role of women in society and at work determine general attitudes at schools as well as the thinking of girls and young women. According to polls, they still dream of becoming such things as stewardesses, actresses, hairdressers, teachers, or shop assistants and only rarely want to enter professions in science and technology. They often shy away from taking intensive courses in science and technology subjects. In the classroom situation teachers, often unconsciously, do not devote to them as much attention as they do to boys. Boys are often more active than girls in working with computers or in doing scientific experiments, they are more assertive, and attract the attention of teachers. Teachers are not used to counteracting this. In some countries this situation has once again resulted in a call for separation of the sexes at school or at least in intensive science and...

  Secondary school leaving certificates qualifying for university entrance and sharp competition for university admission are forcing young people to make an effort to get the highest possible average marks. The result is that many senior secondary school pupils avoid mathematics and science subjects. At vocational schools, particularly public ones, teacher training and technical equipment are rarely sufficient to provide the necessary basic education in science and technology. Relevant in-service education and training programmes are still rare, even though an attempt is made in classroom work to compensate for this lack of science in technology literacy. Practical application and use of this knowledge seems to be very limited. Pupils and students in vocational education tend to learn how to use computers at home or on the job, and frequently do so better, more rapidly, and on more modern equipment than is generally the case for adults or teachers. Young people are often taught ...