Science teaching in schools : dilemmas and challenges

Science has been taught in schools for many years and it is acknowledged as a need for both individual and social life conditions improvement and science own development. However, science educators and politicians often complain about the low rates of attendance of science courses and teachers argue that students do not engage into science learning as they should. Ordinary citizens get perplex when they hear about the figures of the education budget on one hand and about teachers’ dissatisfaction with school conditions and the low level of school achievements on the other. After a brief discussion on students’ motivation to and learning of science, this paper addresses the place of science in the curriculum, the responsibility of curriculum and curriculum materials, as well as of teachers and teacher education on students’ rejection of science courses and university science programmes. Finally, it makes some proposals for attracting more students to science and to improving success in science courses