The perceptions of ex-science teachers of the most essential aspect of science to be taught in Somali secondary schools

In Somali secondary schools and in the Somali secondary science teacher education program the science curriculum is organized and taught under difficult conditions. The problem of selecting an effective program has not been adequately addressed. Science is taught directly to students as content knowledge and the way science is taught is the legacy of two educational systems, the colonial and the Koranic. The Somali secondary level schools further lack systematic curriculum development and tradition and experience in science teaching. The researcher in this study investigated through a literature review what, of all the science content that could be taught, is most essential to be taught in Somali secondary schools and in the Somali secondary science teacher education program. As a result of the literature review it was concluded this most essential science content, the essence of science, is science as a way of knowing. The researcher further investigated through a survey questionnaire and an in-depth interview authored by the researcher and through a Nature Of Science Scale (NOSS) developed by Kimball (1967) the perceptions of a selected group of Somali ex-science teachers who are now in North America regarding the following issues: (a) The most essential aspect of science that should be part of every secondary school science course; (b) the most essential science content for a secondary science teacher education program in an African country like Somalia; (c) the most important goals for the teaching of science at the secondary school level; (d) the most desirable consequences of science instruction at the secondary school level and in the secondary science teacher education program; and (e) the nature of science. In the study it was concluded that there was a mismatch between these perceptions of the Somali ex-science teachers and what was revealed in the literature review as the essence of science, science as a way of knowing